Citizen Crime Watch Blog

Murder suspect to be evaluated for competency
by Gwen Filosa, The Times-Picayune
Friday February 22, 2008, 10:06 AM
New Orleans Police officer Nicola Cotton

An Orleans Parish judge this morning ordered court-appointed psychiatrists to determine whether the man accused of gunning down a police officer last month is competent to proceed to trial on a capital murder charge.

Bernel P. Johnson, 44, who is accused of disarming New Orleans Police officer Nicola Cotton and shooting her repeatedly in a Central City parking lot last month, did not enter any plea to the charge today. …

Cotton, a two-year veteran of NOPD, was killed after trying to handcuff Johnson, police said. A security camera captured the entire incident, according to police who have viewed the footage.

Johnson waited in the lot off Earhart Boulevard after firing the NOPD-issued .40-caliber Glock at Cotton, police said, and then carefully handed the gun to responding officers who approached him with guns drawn.

“This case exemplifies two of the greatest deficiencies we have in the city,” said Kerry Cuccia, Johnson’s lead defense attorney, after the hearing. “One is the mental health system that is broken and simply does not have the facilities to answer the needs. The other is a police department stretched to its limits.”

A few of Johnson’s relatives attended the hearing this morning. Johnson’s sister has said that the family repeatedly tried to help her long-troubled brother, who at age 19 was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. But he always managed to talk his way out of mental health treatment centers, they said, and the family was startled when at one point Bernel threatened to kill his sister.

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Those in tent city are shelter bound
by Katy Reckdahl, Staff writer, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday February 20, 2008, 9:38 PM
Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune

Before month’s end, City Hall officials say, police and social workers will dismantle the tent city downtown and move its homeless denizens to a huge tent in Central City, where they will sleep in triple-decker bunks and must stay clean of drugs and booze.

The move marks a departure in philosophy and in nonprofit partners. The city now plans to partner with the New Orleans Mission, rather than UNITY for the Homeless.

While UNITY has focused on moving the homeless into permanent housing — a relatively new tactic national experts say produces results — the mission will employ a more traditional sheltering approach. The switch has ignited a local debate about the methods, mirroring arguments waged nationally.

The mission aims to provide communal housing until people can save for their own apartments.

[more]

Related:

“Home at Last?”, NOW, PBS.org, 2/02/2007.

The Homeless Guy blog.

Getaway driver guilty in woman’s slaying
by Gwen Filosa, The Times-Picayune
Thursday February 21, 2008, 10:09 PM

Relying on dramatic testimony from the admitted triggerman, an Orleans Parish jury on Thursday convicted the getaway driver in the slaying of a grandmother who was robbed of $10 and some leftover crawfish bisque.

The unusual testimony from 22-year-old Jonathan Bailey, who shot the victim in her Lake Vista driveway, played a key role in sealing the fate of Nathan Foreman, who the jury ruled helped plot the robbery-turned-murder and drove Bailey from the scene. Foreman will receive the mandatory punishment of life in prison without parole for the March 6, 2005, murder of Myra Mehrtens.

Bailey — the state’s only eyewitness, who gained nothing from his testimony but a conscience cleansing — agreed last May to spend the rest of his life in prison for the crime rather than face the death penalty.

His testimony, which Assistant District Attorneys Mary Glass and Tanya Faia secured only last week, gave the jury an exceedingly rare and detailed eyewitness account of the slaying from the murderer himself. Though prosecutors offered Bailey no lenience in his life sentence, Bailey put the grisly details of his own misdeed on the public record and provided damning testimony to secure a conviction for his accomplice and one-time friend.

On the stand, he said he decided to testify because the murder still troubles his conscience.

“I ain’t never coming home,” Bailey testified. “The best I could do is ease that guilt off my mind.”

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Email Blast
NOPD 2nd District

On February 19th at or about 10:40 pm, Second District Officers were patrolling the area of 3800 Constance Street in response to reported street corner narcotics activity. Officers arrested Andrew Moore (BM, 11/30/79) and Derek Payton (BM, 1/3/59), in the 3800 block of Constance Street . Moore was charged with possession of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Payton was charged with possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia. Payton was additionally charged with possession of a firearm.

Major Kirk Bouyelas
Second District Commander
New Orleans Police Department

Death leads to two heroin arrests
Feds to visit parents of drug-abusing teens
The Times-Picayune
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
By Brendan McCarthy

Two young men have been arrested and charged in a drug distribution ring that put heroin, cocaine and other drugs into the hands of local teenagers, including a 16-year-old Lusher High School student who died from an overdose last month, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten announced Tuesday.

The arrests and subsequent court filings lay bare a local network of buyers and sellers dealing with some of the most potent narcotics officials said they’ve seen in the area in decades. And the ongoing investigation also prompted federal officials to take an unusual step: Agents will visit the parents of children identified as drug buyers, letting them know their children use drugs.

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Email Blast
NOPD 2nd District

On February 15th at or about 11:40 am, detectives arrested one Leyon Gaines (BM, 1/14/76) for possession of a handgun which was stolen in a residence burglary. The burglary occurred in the 7800 block of Freret Street. Gaines currently resides at 309 Hillary Street. Detectives are also investigating Gaines possible involvement in other burglary offenses.

If you have any further information on this case, please contact Sgt. Rick Pari or Det. Heather Gore at 658-6022 or 658-6020. You may also call Crimestoppers anonymously at 822-1111.

Remember to report any suspicious persons or activities you see in your neighborhood by calling 821-2222. In an emergency, call 911 immediately.

Major Kirk Bouyelas
Second District Commander
New Orleans Police Department

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Email Blast
NOPD 2nd District

On February 17th at or about 11:00 am, a black Chevy Trailblazer or Chevy Envoy was observed driving around the University area. The vehicle was occupied by two (2) black males. The subjects were observed driving down the street slowly. The passenger would lean out the SUV and check door handles. If they were to locate an open door, he would exit the SUV and attempt to burglarize the open vehicle. This suspect is described as a black male, 5’11”, thin build, dark complexion, wearing a light colored shirt, white pants and white shoes. At this time, Officers are actively looking for this suspect vehicle and/or the individuals involved.

Please make your neighbors aware of this situation. Remember to report any suspicious persons or activities you see in your neighborhood by calling 821-2222. In an emergency, call 911 immediately.

Major Kirk Bouyelas
Second District Commander
New Orleans Police Department

More felony cases go to court
by Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
Monday February 18, 2008, 9:40 PM

The number of felony cases accepted for prosecution by the Orleans Parish district attorney grew by 63 percent from the first part of the year to the last quarter of 2007, perhaps evidence of an improved working relationship between prosecutors and the New Orleans Police Department, the Metropolitan Crime Commission concluded in a report to be released today. …

While the group saw improvement in the number of people who will be prosecuted for felonies at Criminal District Court and an increased conviction rate, it still identified areas that call out for policy changes by police and prosecutors, said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the commission. …

–The Crime Commission continued to criticize the NOPD for arrest practices that focus too much attention on petty offenses. Traffic and municipal arrests made up half of the 58,219 arrests in 2007, the group found.

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Violent crime in N.O. soaring — maybe
by Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
Sunday February 17, 2008, 7:05 PM

By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer

Violent crime skyrocketed last year in New Orleans as population continued to return to the city, rising 53 percent in raw numbers of incidents and at least 22 percent on a per-capita basis.

Last week, the New Orleans Police Department released the latest crime statistics, along with an analysis that showed violent crime stayed relatively flat, on a per-capita basis, in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. But a comparison of statistics from both full years, using the population estimates favored by NOPD, shows that violent crime has increased substantially.

Further, per-capita crime statistics for both of the past two years represent a substantial jump from per-capita crime rates before Katrina, the figures show.

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Ex-convict’s case reflects trend in war on crime
Feds focused on gun to bring him down
The Times-Picayune
Monday, February 18, 2008
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer

A New Orleans man found himself in a world of trouble inside a storm-damaged Gentilly school one night in January 2007, from the bald-faced act of stealing copper to a street-side shooting he couldn’t deny. …

A handgun was off-limits for an ex-convict like Wright. And last week, a judge sent him away to federal prison for a little more than four years for having a firearm within his grasp when his criminal record includes three prior convictions for dealing fake drugs and possessing cocaine.

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Man indicted in death of N.O. officer
Attorneys to weigh insanity defense
The Times-Picayune
Friday, February 15, 2008
By Gwen Filosa

An Orleans Parish grand jury Thursday indicted Bernel P. Johnson on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of New Orleans police officer Nicola Cotton, who was gunned down last month in Central City after trying to detain Johnson, who has a history of mental illness.

Johnson, 44, has been described by his family as a paranoid schizophrenic and was known among the homeless community in New Orleans before his arrest, moments after Cotton’s killing, on Jan. 28.

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