Court Watch NOLA has been tracking a lot criminal justice stories in New Orleans this week, including a 30% drop in the murder rate for the first three months of 2014, though the NOPD acknowledged that other violent crimes were up. In bad news for the NOPD, however, a detective was caught writing words in the blood found at a murder scene. And one tourist decided not to wait for the NOPD, turning the tables on and beating up a would-be armed robber.
In court news, an armed assault on a Georgia courthouse reminded us all of the important and life-saving work the security screening deputies perform at the entrance to Tulane and Broad. A couple of prominent cases were also resolved this week: Judge Davillier revoked the probation of Dean Kelly, a former male model, sending him to prison for 8 years; and a defendant charged with trying to bribe jurors plead guilty and received a 13-year sentence for that charge and others. In news about the bench, the D.A. has had disagreements with Judge Derbigny, the Clerk of Court and Judge White this week, and James Gill lamented the slow pace of progress on “right-sizing” the courts.
