Justice, more or less

Murder charge revived: Cleveland Moore has been in stealth mode since New Orleans' first homicide after Katrina in November 2005. He was the subject of a manhunt until he was captured as a fugitive in Florida in October 2007. A 1st-degree murder charge against him was dropped in May 2008 and only a charge of aggravated battery against him remained from the vicious beating of a beloved bookseller in the French Quarter and the brutal murder of his neighbor.

Then, without fanfare, new charges of 2nd-degree murder and attempted 2nd-degree murder were filed a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras on 2.12.09 against Moore. Last Tuesday (3.3.09), Moore pled not guilty to the charges before Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson. He continues to sit in OPP on $1 million bond awaiting various hearings.

Moore, now 42, is accused in the savage beating of beloved French Quarter icon, Jon Newlin, 56, and in the stabbing death of Newlin's neighbor, Joyce Rader, at Newlin's home in the 700 block of Marigny Street.

Moore, best described delicately as a "friend" of Newlin's who occasionally stayed with the literary light at his home in the Faubourg Marigny, disappeared after the crime. According to the story we get, Moore allegedly beat Newlin in the kitchen of his home with an unknown object until the poet passed out. Then when Rader, a neighbor of Newlin's, came to investigate the commotion, she was stabbed or slashed by Newlin's assailant. Initially, an arrest warrant for Moore charged him only with aggravated battery in the assault on Newlin. Because Newlin had been rendered unconscious, he told police he had not witnessed the attack on Rader and so no murder charges were filed.

Eventually, NOPD Homicide Det. Erbin Bush developed enough evidence to issue a warrant for Moore on murder charges in October 2007, and a week later Moore was located in Tallahassee, Florida and arrested there by sheriff's deputies. He was extradited to Louisiana and booked into OPP in January and was being held without bond on charges of 1st-degree murder and aggravated 2nd-degree battery.

But then-DA Keva Landrum-Johnson--now the judge in the case--dropped the murder charge. It was for Johnson's successor as DA, Leon Cannizzaro, to resurrect the case with charges of 2nd-degree murder. It's not known if new information was developed or the charges resulted as a review of existing evidence.

Newlin, who clerked at a bookstore on Chartres Street in the French Quarter, has a legion of fans. Said one, "Everyone in the Quarter loved to shop at Librarie Bookstore just to listen to him talk about books--I think he has read everything ever written and remembers it all even now!"

He tried to shoot the deputy: Kyle Brown got off about as easy as you can for leveling a firearm at a police officer. Maybe the judge figured the bullet he took from the officer's shooting iron was, in some way, punishment enough.

Originally charged with attempted murder of a police officer, Brown, 22, was found guilty by Judge Laurie A. White of aggravated assault with a firearm against a police officer. She sentenced last Monday (3.2.09) him to a 3-year suspended sentence on inactive probation, plus a $5,000 fine. As a condition of his sentence, he must speak 3 times a year to youth groups "on the effect of alcohol and carrying weapons," and must supply the court with proof he has. If he fails to pay the fine within 3 years, he can be jailed.

Brown was shot by an Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's deputy in a parking lot at the foot of Conti Street near the riverfront. The deputy was one of 2 working a private security detail in the parking lot on 1.27.08 at 4:15 a.m. when they noticed Brown emerge from his car and walk toward them with a handgun. The deputies told him to drop his gun, but he refused and allegedly pointed it at them. One deputy fired his weapon, hitting Brown, who was taken to University Hospital in critical condition.

This shooter not so lucky: Christopher Nabonne, 18, might be known as the guy who couldn't shoot straight, but the judge was right on with the sentence she gave him Friday (3.6.09).

Judge Karen K. Herman gave Nabonne 20 years in prison for aggravated battery and aggravated assault with discharge of a firearm--then she tacked on another 5 years because he's a multiple offender.

Nabonne was convicted by a jury last month on the 2 charges. He was charged with shooting at at a black dude leaving Chris Owens' Club, 500 Bourbon St., last May, but instead he hit a woman standing outside the club in the leg.

Young robbers put away: 2 young robbers who terrorized the neighborhood last year are going to spend a few years upriver in Angola.

• Kevin McCoy, now 20, pled guilty Thursday (3.5.09) to 1st-degree robbery when the charge was dropped from armed robbery.

Judge Laurie A. White promptly sentenced him to 5 years in prison "without benefit of probation, parole or suspension."

He was apprehended 4.2.08 at Royal Street and Esplanade Avenue shortly after an armed robbery at 12:35 a.m. of a white guy walking toward N. Rampart Street in the 1000 block of Ursulines Avenue. McCoy allegedly pulled a pistol (later determined to be a BB gun) and demanded the victim's money. The victim dropped his cellphone and fled, then called in a description of the robber.

• Manuel McDonald, 20, got a lighter sentence from Judge Terry Alarcon, even though he pled guilty Friday (3.6.09) to 2 charges of 1st-degree robbery after they were reduced from armed robbery.

Judge Alarcon sentenced him to only 3 years total on both charges "without benefit of probation, parole or suspension."

McDonald was arrested after participating in 2 armed robberies within a half-hour of each other on 10.20.08 in the CBD. Just after midnight on that date, a black man was stopped by a grey Chevy Malibu that pulled along side of him at Common Street and O'Keefe Avenue in the CBD. The passenger hopped out of the car, brandishing 2 pistols and demanded the victim's money. The victim complied and fled on foot, flagging down a patrol car.

Then at 12:30 a.m., a 58-year-old black man was robbed in much the same manner at Tulane and Loyola avenues by a man in a grey Chevy Malibu.

Shortly after, Ofc. Terrance Wilson and Ofc. Joseph Jefferson stopped a car fitting the description at Canal and Burgundy streets and determined the men inside where the perpetrators of both robberies.

McDonald's alleged accomplice, William Gates, 19, is still contesting the charges.

Robbery suspects freed: 2 other alleged robbers were released from OPP by Judge Ben Willard after he found no probable cause to charge them when the District Attorney failed to present any evidence during their preliminary hearing recently.

James Dawson (left), 23, and Tony Graps (right), 21, were arrested 6.25.08 and charged with the robbery of a 58-year-old man at Toulouse and Chartres streets on 6.19.08 around 2:20 a.m. According to the police report, one perpetrator got behind the victim and began to strike him with his pistol, knocking him to the ground. The other perp took a wallet from the victim's pocket, which reportedly contained only $7.

There is no indication why the DA didn't present any evidence, but what we're hearing points to sloppy police work. Supposedly when detectives viewed the video surveillance tape from cameras outside the New Orleans Silversmith Shop on the corner where the robbery occurred, it clearly showed these 2 men were not the robbers, though the police issued warrants for them nonetheless.

Even though Dawson and Graps have been released from jail, they still face a hearing on motions 3.26.09, indicating that the charges have not been dropped.

Druggy goes free: Hard to say what would make Judge Terry Alarcon think is a serious offense. A defendant comes before him with almost 3 dozen arrests or convictions for about any kind of drug can think of (and a few you can't) over the last 5 years. The DA allows him to plead down to lesser charges. Judge Alarcon gives the defendant a 5-year sentence--suspended. Defendant goes on his merry way.

It makes the work of Ofc. Athena Monteleone of the 8th District's Taskforce seem futile. She single-handedly took down Cedric Franklin, 26, a little after 8 p.m. on 11.10.08 at Dumaine and Burgundy streets and charged his with possession with intent to distribute alprazolam (Xanax) and crack cocaine, and for the umteenth time, "1st offense" possession of marijuana.

The DA reduced those charges to mere "possession," eliminating the "with intent to distribute" that would have labelled Franklin as a drug dealer. Judge Alarcon set him free.

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

Thom Kahler