More than 1,500 prisoners remain behind bars in Louisiana after being convicted by non-unanimous juries, a relic of the Jim Crow era that in April 2019 was deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision.
Before that decision, which overturned a 1972 ruling, only Louisiana and Oregon allowed convictions by juries that weren’t in full agreement. Currently, the law change only applies to cases starting April 2019.
But an ongoing Supreme Court case by one Louisiana prisoner could require the state to offer new trials to those previously convicted by split juries.
The Supreme Court has until June to decide whether or not the law change must be applied retroactively. In preparation for the decision, lawyers such as Jamila Johnson, managing attorney with the Promise of Justice Initiative, are working rapidly to identify hundreds of prisoners previously impacted by this law to petition for new trials. The legal team has identified more than 1,500 individuals con
Murder victim s family wants accused teen charged as an adult, DA s office says no
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New Orleans Juvenile Court Division Chief announced
Orleans Parish DA discusses juvenile crime By Natasha Robin | February 24, 2021 at 6:01 PM CST - Updated February 24 at 6:01 PM
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams announced his new Juvenile Division Chief as well as his plan moving forward on how to handle juvenile offenders.
Williams announced Tenee Felix as the new Juvenile Division Chief. Felix was formally an attorney for the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights. That’s essentially the Public Defender’s Office for Juvenile Court.
Now, Chief Felix will head up the Juvenile District Attorney’s Office.
When asked if that would be a conflict, Williams said the office will follow the rules if any conflicts might arise. He says cases that Chief Felix was previously involved in will be handled by another department head.
In the golden era of politics, political campaigns were an opportunity for voters to meet the candidates and hear what they had to say about the major issues of the day. Citizens often voted for the candidate they thought would best improve their lives.
Today’s campaigns are more like guerilla skirmishes where opposition research specialists mine an opponents’ history and relationships for whatever dirt they can find. In this year’s race to replace U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, candidates’ friends are also diverting attention away from the real issues.
For example, why would City Councilman Jay Banks waste his time going over to the home of congressional candidate Belden Batiste even if he thought Batiste was “in crisis”? Batiste doesn’t even live in Banks’ district. Batiste criticized state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson earlier this week at the Alliance for Good Government forum. That’s politics.
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