Armed robbers go down: Despite the heat the Magistrate Court took this week about not giving suspects a fair shake, it's always amazing how many of them wind up pleading guilty. A few the DA decided not to prosecute for whatever reason (missing witness? sloppy police work?), but in only one case in the recent batch below from Criminal District Court did the judge find the defendant not guilty:
- Renaldo Nickles Jr., now 21: Who, along with his 14-year-old cousin, went on a ro
bbery rampage in the French Quarter in April, 2008, has pled guilty to 4 charges, after they were reduced to "attempted" armed robbery from "armed robbery with a firearm."
After the case slogged through the court for 16 months, Judge Frank Marullo Jr. sentenced him to 8 years of hard labor.
Among the robberies Nickles is believed responsible for from 4.3.08 to 4.11.08 were at these locations:
- Bienville and Burgundy streets
- 900 block of Chartres Street
- 1100 block of Bourbon Street
- 900 block of Ursulines Street
- 900 block of St. Philip Street
- Michael Newton, 24: Not to be outdone by Nickles' week-long spree, Newt
on managed to pull 3 heists in 12 minutes while riding his bicycle through Faubourg Marigny last October.
For that caper, and 3 other robberies he pled guilty to, Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson sentenced him to 10 years and 1 day in prison.
The Marigny robberies he committed in the early morning hours of 10.19.08 were at:
- Chartres and Marigny streets;
- Burgundy and Franklin streets;
- Burgundy and Spain streets.
How'd he get out?: The wages of sin must pay pretty well. Herbert Brown 3rd (pictured), on
e of two 17-year-olds arrested for allegedly robbing a couple of guys on Dauphine Street by Washington Park on the "Night Out Against Crime," managed to post his $150,000 bond 8.24.09 and go free until his court date in early October.
His buddy, Keith McCrary, is still sitting in OPP unable to come up with $150,000. Both were charged with armed robbery with a firearm for the incident 8.6.09.
Unarmed robbers get it too: Crooks convicted of so-called simple robbery (no weapon used, but often more violent) had their days in court too:
- Amora Collins, 18, pled guilty to snatching the wallet from the hand of a guy wh
ile he was trying to get money from the ATM at Bienville and Royal streets on 5.15.09.
Judge Ben Willard gave her a 5-year suspended sentence and 5 years probation, ordering her to stay out of the French Quarter during her probation.
- Tyrell J. Eli (top), now 2
0, Brandon M. Roussell (middle), 19, and Christopher M. Simon (bottom), 21, pled guilty to 2 counts each of simple robbery when the charges were reduced from 1st-degree robbery. They were arrested 4.17.09 after robbing 2 men in the early morning hours in the 1400 block of Canal Street (think Canal Street Hotel). O
ne of them knocked one of the victims to the ground and another put his hand inside his shirt, acting like he had a weapon. They then made the victims empty their pockets.
Judge Karen Herman sentenced Eli and Simon to only 4 months in jail, then gave them credit for time served going back to the date of the crime--me
aning they were free to go.
(Simon, however, managed to attract an auto theft charge in August, to which he pled not guilty 9.21.09--so he continues to sit in OPP.)
Roussell's sentencing was postponed to 9.30.09, pending a pre-sentencing investigation.
- Wayne D. Jones, 49, after sitting in jail for nearly 14 months after swiping a woma
n's purse, finally pled guilty to the charge after the DA agreed not to charge him as a multiple offender.
Judge Laurie White sentenced him to 6 years in prison.
Jones grabbed the purse in the Clover Grill, 900 Bourbon St., in July last year--and then left without paying his $13.25 dinner check.
- Andrew Norris, 23, in another pursesnatching case that seemed to go on forever,
pled guilty to that charge and to carrying a concealed weapon.
Judge Darryl Derbigny sentenced him to 2 years on the pursesnatching charge and 6 months for the concealed weapon--to be served at the same time. (What message does that send? If you're going to rob someone, you might as well carry a gun since the penalty's not going to be any greater?)
Norris was charged for grabbing a woman's purse in the 1000 block of Iberville in the wee hours of 11.28.08 after he asked her for money and she offered him a dollar.
More guilty: Other guilty pleas:
- Terry Brown, 36, pled guilty to illegally carrying a firearm after the DA let him off
the hook for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a much more serious charge, as you might imagine.
He was arrested 7.5.09 by 8th District detectives Jason Giroir and Claude Daniel who were investigating suspicious activity at St. Philip and Royal streets.
Judge Darryl Derbigny, who hands out some of the wimpiest sentences at Tulane and Broad, sentenced Brown only to "time served," the time he spent in OPP from when he was arrested in July to when he went to court 9.3.09. So Brown is roaming our streets again.
- Donnie J. Nelson, 28, who allegedly stabbed a white guy in the neck who was try
ing to break up a fight between his friends and a black gang on Bourbon Street in June last year, knew a good deal when he saw one.
When the DA reduced the charge from aggravated battery to aggravated assault, he pled guilty and Judge Darryl Derbigny (yeah, that one) gave him a 6-month suspended sentence.
- Raynell Walsh, 33, needed a more lenient judge. He pled guilty to aggravated bat
tery for slashing another black man with a boxcutter during an argument at Bourbon and St. Louis streets last April.
Judge Karen Herman, who's new to the bench and hands out some of the toughest sentences at Tulane and Broad, gave Walsh 4 years in prison.
- Allen Stribling, 30, who had as many as 19 charges lodged against him when
he was arrested early last May, finally pled guilty to 7 charges before Judge Robin Pittman, who sentenced him to a total of 6 years in prison.
He had been charged with snatching a purse from a woman's shoulder at Esplanade Avenue and Decatur Street while riding by on his bicycle. That specific charge was dropped by the DA.
Only one NOT guilty: Hard to tell what this was really about; a lovers' quarrel, a jealous husband, who knows?
Last December, just days before Christmas, James J. Hernandez 3rd got out of 
his car at Burgundy and Conti streets in the early morning hours and allegedly took a pistol out of the car's trunk and pointed it at guy there. Then he calmly put the pistol back in the trunk and was about to drive off when the police arrived.
They charged him with aggravated assault and then with violating a protective order--pretty serious stuff since it commanded a $100,000 bond for him to get out of the slammer.
When all was said and done in court at the end of August, Magistrate Rudy Gorrell found Hernandez not guilty of both charges.
And some go free: Some suspects wind up going free for various reasons: The DA "refuses" the case because there's not enough evidence to support the charges; the DA "nol pros" the case because of sloppy police work or missing witnesses. (It would be nice if District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro let us know why.)
These went free for various reasons. It doesn't mean so much that they weren't guilty, only that it couldn't be proven:
- Kyron Nelson, 23, was charged with attempted 1st-degree murder after
he and an accomplice allegedly drove by a man standing outside of Harrah's Casino in June and gunned him down.
The DA refused the charge against Nelson, but a charge of attempted 2nd-degree murder against his alleged accomplice, Rivers Jacques, 24, is still pending as best we can tell (we could actually tell if Sheriff Marlin Gusman could figure out what buttons to push on his computer to make it work).
- Natasha Eiden, 18, who was charged with armed robbery in June after allegedly luri
ng drunks into the alley so her boyfriend could rob them, had those charges refused by the DA.
Her alleged accomplice is still at large for all we know. He was described as a black dude, in his 20's, 5'10" tall, weighing 160 pounds, with short hair, a light complexion and cleanshaven.
- Willie L. Cruell 3rd, 20, who allegedly slashed a friend with a knife near Harr
ah's Casino last year just before Thanksgiving, may have benefited from having friends in high places.
He was released from Central Lock-up on his own recognizance on the order of Judge Darryl Derbigny (remember him?). The DA reduced the initial charge of aggravated battery to simple battery in April even though his friend's injury was enough to send him to the hospital. Then the DA nol prosed that charge in August.
- James Gibeault, 59, kind of an old coot in the neighborhood, may have
been late getting his morning eye-opener at Cafe Rose Nicaud on Frenchmen Street when he allegedly pulled out a hammer and swung it at one guy and threw it at another.
The DA nol prosed 2 charges of aggravated assault against him.
- Alemseged Zaray, 29, had charges of aggravated battery and simple battery
against him refused by the DA.
He allegedly threatened 2 black guys waiting at the bus stop around 6:30 a.m. 7.14.09 at Carondelet and Canal streets with a broken glass bottle.
Justice done?: If you'd like to comment on any of these cases to the judges involved, you'll find email links to each judge in the column on the right.
* * *
As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com
Thom Kahler
ed Michael Baptiste, 23, and charged him with pursesnatching and possession of 42 capsules of methamphetamine.
ed Michael Baptiste, 23, and charged him with pursesnatching and possession of 42 capsules of methamphetamine.
pen in the French Quarter doesn't mean the perps aren't walking our streets.
o suddenly give up yesterday, nor how long there's been a warrant out for his arrest, but his alleged accomplice surrendered on 8.28.09 after he learned of the warrant.
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