Catching up with the court

Compiling this took a lot longer than it should have, thanks to Sheriff Marlin Gusman tinkering with his computer system. Now, instead of one click on a link to get updated court or inmate info, you have to go through 4 or more steps and wait for the sheriff's ponderous computer system to catch up.

There's no apparent reason for the change other than to force you to go through Gusman's webpage and be reminded that he's to thank for his largess in supplying the information.

In truth, it's a discouraging task. Worse yet, Gusman's computer change in obtaining inmate information prevents you from seeing the circumstances under which a suspect is released from OPP. Now, you don't know whether the inmate bonded out or might have been released on his own recognizance by a judge who thought he was cute.

If you're tired of the sheriff's shenanigans, you'll have the opportunity to replace the last henchman remaining from the Morial era.

Some good news: Despite sniping back and forth last week between District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro and Big Chief Warren Riley, the DA is getting more convictions than not, most by plea deals when the charges have been reduced.

While this is not a scientific sampling and is restricted only to cases covered by NOcrimeline in the 8th District, there are far fewer cases "nolle prosequi" (where the DA is unwilling to purse the charges) or where the charges are refused by the DA (often because there's not enough evidence to win a conviction).

A "701 release"--a staple in the Eddie Jordan era when the DA wasn't able to get his you-know-what together within the time limit allowed by law--hasn't been seen in recent history.

Not so good news: Because a couple of cops failed to show up in court, 2 suspects in 2 different robberies went free.

• Dale Kyles, 42, who has a rap sheet a mile long, beat the rap for an attempted robbery when Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson (a former DA) set him free because the arresting officer didn't show up in court.

She denied the DA's request for a continuance, noting this was the 4th time a court date had been set and the officer had not shown up.

Kyles was arrested after he allegedly jumped into a 60-year-old woman's car as she was parking it in the 1000 block of Chartres Street on 9.16.08 around 7 a.m. and began rummaging through her purse.

• Clarence Andrews, 20, may or may not be standing trial. The detective who arrested him, Ofc. Brian Mulvey, was himself charged with contempt of court when he failed to show up for Andrews' preliminary hearing and was sentenced to 10 days in OPP by Magistrate Gerard Hansen, though the sentence was suspended.

Then 3 days later when he did show up, the court found probably cause in the arrest of Andrews, based on Mulvey's testimony.

But 3 days after that, based on the testimony of another witness, no probable cause was found against Andrews and he was released. But now, a show-cause hearing has been scheduled 8.5.09. Stay tuned.

Andrews was arrested in March for a pursesnatching that happened 12.27.08 around midnight in the 1100 block of Dauphine Street when an Uptown white woman was accosted by 3 black men, one of whom bumped into her while the other grabbed her purse.

GUILTY OF ROBBERY:

• Jesse Akmin, 19, pled guilty to attempted armed robbery after the charge was reduced from armed robbery with a firearm. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison by Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson.

Akmin was arrested for the robbery 4.29.08 around 10:40 p.m. of a white man walking in the 1400 block of Chartres Street, just across Esplanade Avenue in the Marigny Triangle. His 2 accomplices remain at large.

• James Brown Jr., 54, was convicted by a jury of attempted 1st-degree robbery and was sentenced by Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson to 10 years in prison.

Brown was arrested 6.10.08 for holding up a white man with a knife at Carondolet and Gravier streets at 12:40 a.m. The victim refused to turn over his wallet and the 2 struggled until Brown ran away.

• Duane E. Lawless, 35, pled guilty to 2 charges of armed robbery after the original charges of armed robbery with a firearm were reduced and the DA agreed not to file a "multiple bill" which would have attached extra years to his sentence. Judge Camille Buras sentenced him to 10 years plus 1 day in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Lawless was charged for a robbery 12.17.07 around 7 p.m. in the 900 block of Frenchmen Street when 2 white men, one 52, the other 47, were walking to their home in the 2000 block of N. Rampart Street.

Lawless has numerous previous arrests for robbery and drug offenses. His accomplice in this robbery is still at large.

• Keith Perkins (right), 18, and Willie Sorden (left), 19, each pled guilty to one count of attempted armed robbery and were sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison by Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson.

The duo was arrested for attempting to rob a man returning home to his residence in the 1000 block of Barracks Street around 12:40 a.m. on 8.17.08. He noticed one of the boys standing between 2 parked cars urinating. When he chastised the boy, the other pulled a pistol and demanded the man's money. The man refused and the boys fled on their bicycles.

• Tony Pollard (right), 17, and Vontraz Pollard (left), 20, each pled guilty after charges were reduced from attempted armed robbery: Vontraz to 5 counts of aggravated assault with a firearm; Tony to 5 counts of aggravated assault. Judge Julian Parker sentenced Vontraz to 1 year in jail on each count, to run concurrently; Tony to 137 days on each count, suspended. He was released from jail.

The 2 brothers' arrest may have been a practical joke that went too far. A little after 7 p.m. on 12.21.08 they were flirting with 5 black girls who were walking near Canal Street and Elk Place. When the chicks spurned their advances, Vontraz pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and demanded their money. The girls took off running toward Tulane Avenue where they flagged down a cop and pointed out the 2 boys who were trying to flee on a RTA bus.

• Chiquita Blaise, 23, pled guilty to attempted simple robbery and got a 2-year sentence, which was suspended by Judge Terry Alarcon, who put her on probation instead.

She was arrested 11.22.08 as one who 2 black women who tried to rob a white woman in the 200 block of N. Rampart Street around 9:30 p.m. Both allegedly struck the victim while trying to wrest her purse from her. The victim fought back and the culprits fled empty-handed.

Though Judge Alarcon gave her credit for time served since last November, she's been out gallivanting around for almost 6 months since Judge Julian Parker released her on her own recognizance so she wouldn't have to post a $20,000 bond.

• Mikhail Singleton, 20, didn't fare as well. He pled guilty to pursesnatching and was sentenced by Judge Frank Marullo Jr. to 2 years in prison.

Singleton was arrested 10.20.08 for grabbing the purse off the shoulder of a woman walking in the 200 block of O'Keefe Avenue around midnight.

GUILTY ON OTHER CHARGES:

• John L. Clowney, 50, was found guilty by a jury of aggravated battery, but acquitted of a charge of attempted 1st-degree robbery. He is due to be sentenced 5.29.09 by Judge Frank Marullo Jr.

Clowney was arrested 11.14.08 after an attack 2 days earlier on a 55-year-old white man who was going into his house at 727 Burgundy St. According to the police, the attacker was armed with a boxcutter and tried to rob the man.

A man in the house came to the victim's aid and was stabbed in the neck, but wrested the knife away from the attacker and slashed the attacker several times in the face, severely enough to hospitalize the perpetrator.

• Calvin Brown Jr., 17, got off easy when he was allowed to plead guilty to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and criminal damage instead of the carjacking he had originally been charged with. Judge Julian Parker gave him a 2-year suspended sentence and put him on probation.

Parker was arrested 2.6.09 after he stole a delivery vehicle left running in the 800 block of Decatur Street around 5 p.m. while the deliveryman went into a business. When the victim attempted to stop him, Brown struck the man and fled in the vehicle, striking several parked cars along the way.

It's hard to understand Parker's leniency. Brown was arrested just 4 months before on similar charges, but those were dropped by the DA on 12.29.08.

• Frank Moody, 49, may be going away for a very long time after a jury convicted him of aggravated burglary, which was a terrifying experience for a young French Quarter woman.

Based on his previous convictions, a hearing is set for 6.4.09 in Judge Julian Parker's courtroom to determine if Moody is a habitual criminal. If he is, he faces doubling of the 1-to-30-year sentence he already faces.

Moody was arrested 12.3.08 after he broke down the front door of a 26-year-old woman in the 800 block of St. Ann Street just before 2 a.m.

She awoke to find Moody looming over her in her bedroom. He made her face the wall and told her he would kill her if she moved or made a noise. He repeatedly asked her where she kept her money and she repeatedly told him there was no money in the house. He stole her TV set and a laptop computer before finally fleeing.

Moody should have never been on the street in the first place. When a hung jury in Criminal District Court this spring failed to convict him on a charge of burglary of an inhabited dwelling in 2007, Judge Ben Willard allowed Moody to plead guilty to the lesser charge of simple burglary.Willard gave him a suspended 4-year sentence and put him on probation designed to treat alcoholism and drug addiction.

After Moody violated probation, Willard required Moody to wear an ankle monitor, obey a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew, and perform 500 hours of community service. A lot of good that did.

• John D. Petrie III, 38, didn't know when he had a good deal, but he did agree to plead guilty to a simple burglary charge when the DA agreed not to charge him for multiple burglaries--all of the same business. This time Judge Julian Parker gave him 5 years in prison.

He was arrested 2.2.09 for breaking into the Dragon's Den Social Aid and Pleasure Club, 435 Esplanade Ave.--just one week after he pled guilty to twice breaking into the same business the previous fall.

Judge Parker, apparently trying to give a break to a man with obvious problems, sentenced Petrie to a 3-year suspended sentence on each count, sending him instead to drug court for presumed rehabilitation.

But just a week later, the bartender at the Dragon's Den heard noises coming from the bar area around 9:40 a.m., before the bar was open. When 8th District cops showed up, they found Petrie behind the bar and arrested him for burglary of a business. They also charged him on a warrant for another burglary a few days earlier.

AND OTHERS WENT FREE:

• James H. Dawson (right), 23, and Tony Graps (left), 21, were freed when the DA nolle prossed charges against them of armed robbery with a firearm.

They had sat in OPP for nearly 9 months after being arrested a few days after the vicious beating and robbery of a 58-year-old man in the early morning hours of 6.19.08 outside the New Orleans Silversmith Shop at Toulouse and Chartres streets.

Reportedly, video recorded by security cameras outside the shop clearly showed Dawson and Graps were not the perpetrators.

• An armed robbery charge against Allen M. Jones, 22, was nolle prossed by the DA. He had been arrested last June after a victim of a robbery at Tchoupitoulas and Gravier street "positively" identified him from a photo line-up as one of 3 black men who held him up with a knife.

• Russell Bernard, 19, was freed after 5 months when the DA refused the case against him of attempted armed robbery. Bernard and a 16-year-old boy were arrested last October after an Asian man walking in the 1000 block of Conti Street fought off 2 would-be robbers and then identified Bernard as one of them.

• A charge of pursesnatching against Emery Thompson, 52, was nolle prossed by the DA. Thompson was arrested last October for allegedly grabbing a woman's purse as she was standing inside Razzoo Club & Patio, 511 Bourbon St.

• A charge of simple robbery against Joseph Blouin, 21, was refused by the DA. He was arrested last October after a Hispanic man had his wallet snatched from his pocket as he walked in the 700 block of Iberville Street.

• A charge of attempted simple robbery against Byron Millet, 28, was refused by the DA. He was arrested in February as the man who allegedly tried to grab money from a man's pocket at Toulouse and Royal streets.

• A charge of aggravated battery against Marcus Martinez, 33, was refused by the DA. Martinez was arrested last November after he allegedly slashed a male friend on the arm after they got into an argument at The Roundup Bar, 819 St. Louis St.

• A charge of aggravated battery against Savonna Stewart, 19, was refused by the DA. She and a friend allegedly got into a fight with a 17-year-old girl 10.31.08 at Bourbon and Conti streets around 6 a.m. and cut the victim above her eye with a folding knife.
  

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

Thom Kahler