The long arm of the law

Not long enough: Buffa's Bar & Lounge--the scene a few months ago of a number of meetings on combating crime in the neighborhood--itself fell victim to crime early Friday (7.31.09) morning.

A robber walked into the bar at Esplanade Avenue and Burgundy Street around 12:56 a.m. armed with a pistol and demanded money from the bartender. Buffa's--which takes only cash, making it a prime target for a robber--probably had plenty, though an amount wasn't specified on the police report. The bartender complied and the robber fled on foot down Burgundy, turning on Pauger Street headed for St. Claude Avenue.

8th District detectives obtained an arrest warrant on Monday (8.3.09) for Darwin Hunter, 26, after he was positively identified in a photographic lineup. He is described as black, 5'9" tall, with a thin build, wearing a black shirt, black pants and a red baseball cap. He has a long criminal history, including male prostitution.

Those meetings at Buffa's back in February--in the wake of Wendy Byrne's murder--lured such anti-crime luminaries as Big Chief Riley and District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. Riley promised increased patrols--the vaunted "blue light specials--and for a while their presence was highly visible and crime dropped dramatically.

But now, even with increased millions of dollar designated for additional patrols, the blue lights are virtually extinguished and crime is slowly creeping back into the darkness.

Long enough: It took a while, but cops finally hauled 3 long-time fugitives back to court to face charges going back to early 2008. (It also took a while for NOcrimeline to learn of these arrests when we checked our warrant file--the NOPD is not big on crowing about their successes):

• Dornelius Brown, 19: Though a warrant was issued by 8th District NOPD detectives on 3.28.08 for 2 armed robberies on 3.5.08 in the French Quarter, it took nearly a year to take him into custody.

At the time the warrant was issued, Brown was in the Tangipahoa Parish jail. He wasn't booked into OPP until 2.11.09; by that time he had picked up an aggravated battery and 2 attempted armed robbery charges to go along with the 2 armed robbery charges he was initially wanted for.

Brown is charged with the armed robberies on 3.5.08 of 2 white men, one at Royal and Orleans streets at at 9:05 p.m., and the other in the 900 block of Bienville Street (between Dauphine and Burgundy streets) at 9:12 p.m.

Brown is sitting in OPP under $700,000 bond awaiting further court action in Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson's courtroom on 9.11.09.

• Randall Campo, 41: Police arrested him 4.4.08 almost immediately after he and an accomplice snatched the purse from a woman walking with a male companion in the 100 block of N. Peters Street (near Canal Street) around 1:25 a.m.

He made 8 or so appearances in court, but as his case dragged on, he apparently got tired of showing up. He missed his 10.7.08 trial date. A warrant was issued, but the cops didn't catch up with him again until 2.15.09. His downfall, apparently, was bad driving because they booked him with a slew of reckless-type driving charges.

His case picked up speed in the courts under the new DA and he pled guilty to pursesnatching on 6.24.09 before Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson and is awaiting sentencing 8.14.09.

(His alleged accomplice, Mark Melerine, 35, is wanted on a warrant in this case and possibly in several other cases, including a pursesnatching in broad daylight in the 1300 block of Bourbon Street on 4.29.08. He is described as a white male, 5'11" tall, weighing 180 pounds.)

• Andrew Norris, 23: Norris is another one who got tired of the plodding pace of justice in Orleans Parish and simply walked away from his own trial.

The magic number seems to be "8" because that's about how many times Norris appeared in court before he, according to court records, "left court before his matter was concluded" on 5.6.09. He didn't stay on the lam long before he was arrested again on 6.8.09 and is now being held without bond.

Norris was charged with pursesnatching for grabbing a woman's purse in the 1000 block of Iberville Street on 11.28.08 around 1:15 a.m. after she was about to give him a dollar after he asked for money.

Norris is due to stand trial on this charge and for carrying a concealed weapon on 8.18.09 in Judge Darryl Derbigny's courtroom.

Guilty, more or less: A number of long, drawn-out cases from last year have finally found justice, more or less:

• Armed robberies, 4.13.08: A pair of suspects arrested in 2 armed robberies that happened within 20 minutes of each other on Decatur Street met totally different fates in Criminal District Court.

Kalef Bell (left), now 20, pled guilty early last month to 3 counts of armed robbery with a firearm. His alleged accomplice, Reginald Carter (right), 22, chose a jury trial on 2 counts of armed robbery with a firearm, but on 7.16.09 the jurors found him not guilty on both charges.

Carter was freed from custody in OPP after being locked up for 15 months.

Judge Terry Alarcon sentenced Bell on the 3 charges to 10 years and 1 day in prison "without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension" of the sentence.

• Armed robberies, 10.30.08: In another case of 2 armed robberies pulled off within less than 30 minutes of each other, the 2 suspects also had different fates.

Manuel McDonald (left), now 20, and William Gates (right), 21, were each charged with 2 counts of armed robbery after 2 men in a gray Chevy Malibu stuck up 2 black men walking in the CBD just after midnight, one at Common Street and O'Keefe Avenue, and the other at Tulane and Loyola avenues.

McDonald pled guilty last March to 2 charges reduced to 1st-degree armed robbery and was sentenced by Judge Terry Alarcon to 3 years in prison "without benefit of probation, parole or suspension" of sentence.

Gates' dragged on for another 3 months until he pled guilty in late June to 2 counts of the lesser charge of being an accessory to armed robbery, as the alleged getaway car driver. He was given a 5-year suspended sentence by Judge Alarcon.

• Carjacking, 8.10.08: Kind of a split decision on this one, a case that might be called "Dumb and Dumber" meets "Deal Or No Deal."

A pair of would-be robbers on bicycles, one with a gun, approached a driver getting out of his car in the 800 block of Dumaine Street and demanded his car keys. But when the car's manual transmission baffled the 2 dunces, the victim offered them money and they took the deal, fleeing on their bikes. The victim hopped in his car and followed them. Police caught up with Kendrick Burbank (right), now 28, at Bourbon and Ursulines streets. Police later picked up Keith Perkins (left), then 17, as his accomplice.

Burbank pled guilty last May to armed robbery and was sentenced by Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson to 10 years in prison, denying him an early release for good time.

On 7.24.09 Perkins pled guilty when the charge was reduced to attempted armed robbery. Judge Landrum-Johnson gave him a 3-year sentence, but since it runs at the same time as an earlier 3-year, 6-month sentence she gave him, also for attempted armed robbery, it's kind of like a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card for this crime.

This little scumball just turned 18 and has been racking up frequent felon points since he was 17 (and probably before as a juvenile). Don't be surprised to see him laying in the street one of these days with bullet holes in him.

• Armed robbery, 1.18.09: Not so long, not so drawn out, but a helluva long sentence for stealing a coat.

Curtis Ray, 19, was arrested after he took a jacket from a 66-year-old man getting out of his car around 10 a.m. in the CBD as kind of a consolation prize in an attempted carjacking.

Ray, who was holding the coat when police caught up with his getaway car, pled guilty 7.22.09 to armed robbery. Judge Laurie White sentenced him to 10 years and 1 day in prison.

Last year, Ray beat a rap on 2 armed robberies and an attempted armed robbery when the DA decided not to prosecute the case.

Not all there: Sometimes there's just not enough evidence--or witnesses--to prosecute a case. The DA refused to prosecute these cases recently:

• Aggravated battery, 2.7.09: The DA refused to prosecute Byron Johnson, 37, who took umbrage when a guy slapped his girlfriend on her butt in the 200 block of Royal Street and apparently got so mad he wound up allegedly stabbing his girlfriend's assailant in the neck with a pocketknife.

• Pursesnatching, 4.19.09: Though the DA dropped the charge of pursesnatching stemming from an incident at Decatur Street and Esplanade Avenue, Allen Stribling Jr., now 20, pled guilty last Wednesday (7.29.09) to 11 charges ranging from burglary to theft from March to May and was sentenced to 6 years in prison.
  

• Armed robberies, 5.4.09: The DA dropped charges last Tuesday (7.28.09) against Jerry Corner, now 19, who was identified as the perp in the robbery of 4 elderly women walking in the 1000 block of Chartres Street.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler