Year: 2016

Kenner man sentenced to 35 years in prison for armed robbery

A Kenner man who pleaded guilty last month to robbing a Kenner business was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Thursday (April 14).

Terrance C. Williams, 27, admitted that he went to the Chevron store at 181 West Airline Drive about 1 a.m., on Jan. 29, 2015, and demanded that the clerk give him cash from the register.

The clerk initially thought he was joking and turned away to stock merchandise, according to the Kenner Police Department. That’s when Williams brandished a small black pistol that was in his right pocket, police said. The clerk complied and handed over about $325 in cash, according to the arrest affidavit.

Williams then fled on a bicycle. About four hours later, Kenner police officers were patrolling the 500 block of Salvador Road when they saw Williams with a bicycle matching the robber’s. The clerk, who told police the robber had tattoos on his face, was driven to Salvador Road, where she identified him as the man who robbed her. Williams has numerous tattoos on his face.

He pleaded guilty on March 9 to charges of armed robbery and obscenity. The latter charge stems from an incident in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center, where on Feb. 20, 2015 he exposed his genitals.

Yet on Thursday, when he was scheduled to be sentenced, Williams asked to withdraw his guilty plea. “I didn’t understand what I was signing at the time,” Williams told the judge of the plea form.

Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted the plea last month, told Williams that by withdrawing the plea he potentially faced life in prison as a career offender if he went to trial and was convicted, given his past criminal convictions.

Judge Enright also noted the discussion he had with Williams during the guilty plea on March 9, as well as his signing the plea forms. “In this court’s estimation, Mr. Williams did understand” his guilty plea, Enright said.

Judge Enright declined to allow Williams to withdraw the plea. He the sentenced Williams to 35 years for the armed robbery and three years for the obscenity. The sentences were run concurrently.

Assistant District Attorney Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.

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Harvey Hustler associate sentenced to 20 years in prison in racketeering case

A Terrytown man tied to the violent Harvey Hustlers gang that trafficked narcotics on West Jefferson streets was sentenced on Thursday (April 7) to 20 years in prison.

Charles D. Gumms, 22, received the punishment for his Feb. 16 guilty plea to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute heroin and marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute Tramadol. He received a total of 20 years in prison for those offenses.

Gumms also pleaded guilty on Thursday to being a double offender under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, in light of his 2013 conviction of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. His sentence as a double offender was 20 years, run concurrently with his punishment for the racketeering and narcotics offenses.

Gumms was one of 21 people named in a 30-count indictment filed in state court last year, charging Harvey Hustlers and their affiliates in a sweeping racketeering case built around crack cocaine and heroin distribution ring. Gumms was among the last of those defendants to either plead guilty or be convicted at trial.

Although he pleaded guilty on Feb. 16, his sentencing was postponed to Thursday, until after he received his punishment in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court for probation violation. He pleaded guilty in January 2013 to an illegal gun possession charge and two misdemeanor offenses.

For the probation revocation, he was sentenced to three years in prison by an Orleans Parish judge on March 28.

Jefferson Parish’s Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the Harvey Hustler cases, ran the 20-year sentence he handed down on Thursday concurrently with the three years he received for the probation revocation.

Two months before he was indicted in the Harvey Hustlers case, Gumms was shot several times in Terrytown. He and Shamyra Plumer, 18, were in his car in the 2100 block of Esplanade Place in Terrytown, when a gunman or gunmen opened fire.

Gumms drove to a convenience store at Terry Parkway and Carol Sue Avenue, where he ran inside the business and collapsed, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Deputies’ found Plummer’s body in the back seat of the car.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Seth Shute prosecuted the cases.

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Former Mississippi auctioneer ordered to pay $261,800 in restitution to Kenner

A Mississippi man who was convicted of stealing $511,000 in auction proceeds from the City of Kenner must repay the city $261,729 in restitution, a state district judge ruled on Wednesday (April 6), increasing the $80,000 amount previously set by a now-retired judge.

James Durham, 44, of Hattiesburg, who with his father owned the now-defunct Durham Auctions, pleaded guilty to theft in August 2014, in connection with the work the company did for Kenner in 2008. Durham Auctions oversaw the sale of $511,729 in surplus municipal property but never gave the proceeds to the city.

Durham and his father, Donald Durham, were charged with theft by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office. Then-Judge Ross LaDart of the 24th Judicial District Court, who has since retired, dismissed the charge against the father during the February 2014 trial.

Judge LaDart then granted the defense request to recess the son’s case before the trial ended. At the time, Durham was serving parole for a worthless checks conviction in an unrelated conviction in Mississippi.

Six months later, Durham was back in Jefferson Parish, where he pleaded guilty to the theft charge. Judge LaDart suspended a two-year prison sentence and ordered Durham to serve five years of probation.

On the question of restitution, LaDart ordered Durham to repay the city only $80,000, calling the full restitution amount the state sought to be “excessive.”

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office objected to the amount and succeeded in persuading the state 5th Circuit Court of Appeal to reverse LaDart’s decision.

Judge LaDart set the amount after hearing testimony and argument tied to Durham’s financial woes, which included $300,000 in restitution in Mississippi. “Mississippi just got to his wallet before this court will,” Judge LaDart ruled.

The 5th Circuit dismissed LaDart’s reasoning on Oct. 14, 2015, finding that while the Mississippi restitution “may be a valid consideration in determining the manner in which defendant should repay the restitution owed in this case, it should be of no consequence to the amount of restitution ordered” in the Kenner case.

“Given all these circumstances, we find that under the facts of this case, $80,000 is not a reasonable amount of restitution, and the trial court abused its discretion in setting restitution in that amount,” 5th Circuit Judge Robert Chaisson wrote for the panel that included Judges Robert Murphy and Stephen Windhorst.

The appellate court sent the case back to the district court for reconsideration. By then, Judge LaDart had retired, meaning his elected successor, Judge Danyelle Taylor, had to handle the matter. She heard argument and accepted evidence during a Jan. 13 hearing and took the matter under advisement until Wednesday.

Judge Taylor said she arrived at the $261,729.29 amount in considering that the Durhams’ Mississippi bank “wrongfully seized” $250,000 of Kenner’s $511,729 that was held in escrow. The bank’s action was unrelated to the Kenner matter. The judge ordered Durham to pay $1,800 in monthly installments.

Assistant District Attorney Seth Shute, who prosecuted the case, objected to the amount Taylor set.

The city of Kenner also sued the Durhams civilly in a Mississippi court in an attempt to recoup its monetary losses. The Durhams, however, had declared bankruptcy. Kenner recouped only $80,000, “which did not even cover the total amount of legal fees incurred,” the 5th Circuit noted.

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National Crime Victims’ Rights Week 2016 to bring march, balloon release

National Crime Victims' Rights Week begins on Sunday (April 10).
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week begins on Sunday (April 10).

 

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office is joining with Silence Is Violence and other agencies in sponsoring the annual National Crime Victims’ Rights Week events in the New Orleans area, including a march through the Faubourg Marigny and French Quarter and a memorial balloon release over Bayou St. John.

Agencies across the United States will be observing the week, April 10-16, drawing the public’s attention to the traumatically emotional, physical and financial burdens that crime victims are forced to carry. The week also highlights the rights crime victims and witnesses to crimes have. Louisiana recognizes them in its Crime Victim Bill of Rights.

This year’s theme is “Serving Victims, Building Trust, Restoring Hope,” underscoring the importance of early intervention and victim services in establishing trust with victims. That, in turn, begins to restore their home for healing and recovery, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crimes, which coordinates National Crime Victims’ Rights Week nationwide.

“My entire staff and I support and recognize this annual commemorative event,” Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick, Jr. said. “National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is a unique opportunity to celebrate the tremendous progress made on behalf of victims.”

Tamara Jackson, executive director of Silence is Violence, said she’s excited to partner with the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office this year.

“Our partnership will address specific needs of victims and their families,” Jackson said. “Our goal is to establish working relationships to better serve crime victims by building trust and restoring hope.”

Marilyn McCoy Roberts, acting director for the Office for Victims of Crimes, said in a message to providers of victims’ services that this year’s theme underscores the importance of establishing trust with victims and reaching socially, economically and geographically isolated people.

“If victims are to trust that the system will work for them, we must meet them where they are – physically, culturally and emotionally,” Roberts said. “By serving victims, building trust and restoring hope, the field can more effectively help victims as they rebuild their lives.”

The week stems from the movement that began more than three decades ago to recognize victims of crime.

Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, which partners with the Justice Department in highlighting the week, said this year’s theme “reminds us of the significant progress we have made in recognizing victims’ rights and at the same time emphasizes the need to expand our reach to marginalized, isolated, and other victims who are less likely to seek recovery services on their own.”

“We know that early intervention – addressing victimization when it occurs – is critical and can improve victim recovery and prevent future victimization,” Fernandez said.

In the New Orleans area, this year’s events include:

  • The Tutu Walk for Sexual Assault Awareness, 6 p.m., on Tuesday (April 12). The walk begins and ends at Port and Chartres streets in Faubourg Marigny and takes marchers through the French Quarter. The route will follow Royal Street to Bienville Street in the French Quarter, and Bourbon to Toulouse streets, then to Decatur Street past the French Market to Elysian Fields and Chartres back to Port Street.
  • Purple & Blue Peace Day, on Wednesday (April 13). Supporters are asked to wear purple or blue in support of women and children abuse prevention.
  • “Drinks for a Cause” on Thursday (April 14), 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at The Rusty Nail, 1100 Constance St., New Orleans.
  • A memorial balloon release on Friday (April 15), at 6:30 p.m., at Orleans Avenue and North Jefferson Davis Parkway.
  • A prayer vigil at 2 p.m., on Saturday (April 16), at Marr Avenue and Donner Drive in Algiers. It honors Kenneth Hall, 27, who was shot to death while in his pickup truck near the intersection on June 21, 2015.

Additionally, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office Victim-Witness Unit will provide information and resources all week from a static display in the Jefferson Parish Government Center’s atrium in Gretna, at 200 Derbigny St.

Other agencies involved with Silence is Violence in this year’s events include the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, the New Orleans Police Department’s Victim-Witness Unit, the New Orleans Forensic Center and The Family Leadership Training Institute.

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Metairie man pleads guilty to possession of child pornography

A Metairie man averted his trial for possession of child pornography involving children under age 13 on Monday (April 4), by pleading guilty as charged in exchange for a five-year prison sentence.

William Shiell, 49, also will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years beginning with his release from prison, Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court ordered in accepting the guilty plea.

Shiell had been free from jail since posting a $15,000 bond on the day after his May 24, 2012 arrest by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The judge allowed Shiell to huddle with his tearful family in the courtroom before he was fingerprinted and taken away in handcuffs to begin his prison sentence.

Sheriff’s Office Detective Nick Vega, working with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, was investigating an online peer-to-peer sharing website where child pornography is known to be shared, authorities said. The detective tracked illegal activities to Shiell’s home computer, where he found videos and images of prepubescent boys and girls engaged in sexual acts.

Shiell was scheduled to stand trial this week when he opted to plead guilty in exchange for the least amount of prison time the law allows for the crime. At the time of his arrest, possession of child pornography involving children under age 13 carried a punishment of five years to 20 years in prison.

Just months later, in August 2012, Louisiana doubled its punishment for possession of child pornography involving children under age 13 to 10 years to 40 years in prison.

The Internet Crimes Against Children program is funded by the U.S. Justice Department and involves local, state and federal law enforcement agencies working in 61 task forces nationwide that root out child predators on the Internet.

Assistant District Attorney Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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‘Sovereign citizen’ burglar sentenced to 10 years in prison

A man already serving a six-month jail term for refusing to answer a judge’s questions during his trial last month was sentenced Monday (April 4) to 10 years in prison for burglarizing a Metairie widow’s home and then was caught the same day with her stolen jewelry.

Sean Stock, who turned 29 years old on Monday, was convicted of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling and possession of stolen things on March 23. Among the items he stole was the engagement ring and wedding band that belonged to her husband, who died on Good Friday of 2014, according to trial testimony.

Stock broke into the woman’s home on 47th Street near South Causeway Boulevard during the weekend of June 20, 2015.

Stock was familiar with the home because he previously was hired to perform odd jobs there, including removing a tree, according to testimony. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office focused on him as a suspect after the homeowner overheard deputies mention Stock’s name and she recalled having hired him to do the work, she testified.

After rejecting two requests to toss out the verdicts and hearing a lengthy and emotional defense plea for lenience for the father of a 4-year-old boy, Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Stock to 10 years on each count. She ran the sentences concurrently.

As his trial was beginning, Stock, who had a public defender appointed to his case, announced he wanted to act has his own attorney in disclosing an affiliation with the sovereign citizens movement, whose members refuse to recognize laws or pay taxes.

As the judge questioned him in connection with his request, Stock responded only that he was the attorney for his own corporation, an assertion indicative of the sovereign citizens movement. His non-responsiveness led Judge Kovach to find him in contempt of court and sentence him a six-month jail term.

Just before she announced her sentence for the convictions on Monday, Stock apologized for his courtroom disturbance. “I look back,” he said. “I was rude. I do want to apologize for that.”

Judge Kovach said she planned to run the 6-month jail term consecutively to the sentencings but opted to run it concurrently in light of his apology.

Stock’s punishment could be increased because of his 2004 conviction of carjacking, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. Prosecutors are seeking a sentencing enhancement under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, meaning his sentence for the burglary could increase to 24 years.

Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Rushton and Andrew DeCoste prosecuted the case.

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DA’s Office diversion counselor presents lecture at national conference

Desislava Atlazova, a counselor in the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office Pre-Trial Adult Diversion Program, has been selected to present a lecture during the Law and Ethics in Counseling Conference 2016.

Held annually, the conferences bring together counselor educators, counseling graduate students and counseling practitioners from across the United States to review the latest trends and developments in the areas of law and ethics in counseling, according to event organizers.

Atlazova and fellow doctoral student Dustin Reed will present “Counseling, Boundary Issues, Multiple Relationships and Ethics,” during the weeklong conference. The presentation touches on a range of ethical matters, from touching in therapy to prohibited relationships.

A native of Bulgaria who immigrated to the United States 10 years ago, Atlazova, P.L.P.C., N.C.C., is a doctoral student in counseling at the University of Holy Cross in Algiers, formerly Our Lady of Holy Cross College. She holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from the University of New Orleans and has been employed at the District Attorney’s Office for more than two years.

The University of Holy Cross is hosting this year’s conference, began on Sunday Sunday (April 3) through Thursday at the Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat Center in Metairie. A conference committee selects who’ll speak at the events.

Atlazova’s presentation is 10:15 a.m., on Thursday (April 7).

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Former CCC bridge police sergeant pleads guilty to negligent injury of his wife

A Metairie man pleaded guilty as charged to negligent injury on Wednesday (March 30), in connection a shooting in his home in which his wife was wounded.

David Kramer Jr., 46, formerly a sergeant with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety’s Crescent City Connection police unit, was ordered to serve six months of inactive probation, after the judge deferred a six-month jail sentence. He admitted he injured his wife on Oct. 24.

After reviewing the evidence in the case, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office elected to file a bill of information in the 24th Judicial District Court charging Kramer with the misdemeanor offense of negligent injury on March 22.

Before accepting the guilty plea on Wednesday, Judge Glenn Ansardi heard testimony from Kramer’s wife. She testified that she and her husband since 2008 argued over a photograph found on his cellular phone. That lead to her request that he sleep elsewhere that night, she testified.

As he was retrieving his personal firearm from his closet, she attempted to stop him from taking the gun with him, she testified. The firearm discharged once, she said. The bullet went through her arm and struck her in the side of her head, she testified.

“I don’t know if I did something to cause that, when I went to reach for it,” she told Judge Ansardi.

Questioned by attorneys and the judge, the woman described it as “an accident.” She said she is “absolutely not” afraid of her husband and wanted to reconcile.

At her request, Judge Ansardi dissolved a protective order that kept the couple apart. The judge also released Kramer from home incarceration, which was a condition of his $100,000 bond.

Assistant District Attorney Brittany Beckner prosecuted the case.

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Jacoby Maize sentenced to life plus 55 years for murder, arson and other crimes

Convicted killer Jacoby Maize was sentenced on Monday (March 28) to life in prison plus 55 years, for shooting Justin Hendricks Jr. in his Old Jefferson home on the day after Easter Sunday 2011 and for six other crimes.

Maize, 38, of Kenner, was convicted of second-degree murder in the April 25, 2011 homicide inside Hendricks’ home in the 100 block of Maine Street. Firefighters found the body the following day when extinguishing the fire Maize set to conceal evidence of his crime.

“For five years, I have waited for this day,” his father, Dr. Justin Hendricks Sr. testified. “The Lord has answered my prayers. For five years I’ve waited to lay eyes on my son’s murderer: You. I have finally gotten justice.”

Hendricks anonymously called 911 after witnessing Maize pistol whipping his wife in his home. Maize returned to the house later and shot Hendricks once in the hip, leaving him to bleed to death.

Dr. Hendricks said his son “did the unthinkable” by calling 911, in that others did not stand up to Maize. “Did he think his life was in peril? Yes,” Dr. Hendricks testified. “But he did it anyway.”

During his trial, Maize accused his wife of being the killer and the arsonist. He asserted that Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives, his wife and other witnesses falsely accused him of committing the seven crimes for which he stood trial.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Dr. Hendricks, who attended the trial, noted Maize’s defense assertions in calling him “a liar” and “a coward.” Maize chuckled and continued smiling as the grieving father wept in the witness seat.

A Jefferson Parish jury on March 4 convicted Maize as charged of the murder, aggravated arson, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated second-degree battery, witness intimidation and aggravated assault.

The aggravated second-degree battery, aggravated assault and witness intimidation involve Maize’s wife, whom he shot at, beat and threatened if she told anyone that he killed Hendricks, according to trial testimony.

After rejecting Maize’s attorneys’ request for a new trial on Monday, Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court handed down the mandatory life sentence for Hendricks’ death.

Judge Sullivan sentenced Maize to 15 years for the aggravated second-degree battery, 20 years for each of the firearm charges, 40 years for witness intimidation, 20 years for aggravated arson and 10 years for aggravated assault.

The judge ran some of the sentences consecutively to one-another, with the end result being 55 years on top of life in prison.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.

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Matthew Flugence pleads guilty to first-degree murder of Ahlittia North

Matthew Flugence, the Marrero man accused of killing 6-year-old Ahlittia North before discarding her body in a residential trash can that he rolled to a Harvey curb two years ago, pleaded guilty as charged to first-degree murder on Thursday (March 24), accepting a life sentence in prison in a plea deal that removed the possibility he one day could die by lethal injection.

Flugence, 22, had been charged with first-degree murder, and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office planned to seek the death penalty. His guilty plea, which removes the death penalty, was negotiated with his public defenders, leading to Thursday’s unscheduled hearing before 24th Judicial District Court Judge Adrian Adams.

“There will always be an Ahlittia-size hole in my heart, in my life,” her mother Lisa North testified during the plea hearing.

The North family agreed to the plea arrangement and was thankful for it, District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. said.

“This outcome gives peace to the Ahilittia’s family, who have been spared the painful experience of reliving the horrible events during the trial,” Connick Jr. said. “Justice has been served.”

Capital cases mandate a high level of scrutiny at the appellate level, meaning the review at higher courts can last for years. This plea ends it. As part of his plea, Flugence agreed to waive his appeal rights and spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of probation, parole or suspended sentence.

Flugence admitted he abducted North from her mother’s apartment in the 2900 block of Destrehan Avenue in Harvey’s Woodmere subdivision on July 13, 2013.

Her disappearance set off a massive search by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and other agencies that ended three days later, when the child’s body was found wrapped in plastic bags and a blanket. Her remains were discarded in a residential garbage can left along Destrehan Avenue near where her mother lived, “to be picked up as though she was not a human being,” Lisa North testified.

“She died terrified and alone at the hands of an evil monster,” Lisa North testified.

North, who would have turned 9 on March 3, was stabbed twice in the neck and twice in the abdomen.

Flugence, whose uncle was North’s stepfather, emerged as the suspect and was arrested three days after she disappeared. Police found him walking alone on Victory Drive in Westwego. He was carrying a knife, police said at the time.

He confessed, asserting that the child initiated sexual contact behind an apartment building on Destrehan Avenue, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. After the encounter he alleged happened, he told police, he snapped, stabbed her and watched her die.

Lisa North said Flugence “showed no grace or mercy” throughout the ordeal, including his baseless accusations of what he alleged her daughter did. “But far worse than that, he shows no remorse,” she testified.

In connection with the plea arrangement, the District Attorney’s Office also dismissed charges of aggravated rape, unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, two counts of battery on a corrections officer and resisting arrest by force or violence. The rape charge did not involve Ahlittia.

Flugence’s brother, Russell Flugence, 24, of Marrero, pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to report a certain felony in 2014 and was sentenced to one year in prison. He admitted his brother told him he killed North, but he didn’t report it to police.

Assistant District Attorneys Sunny Funk and Doug Freese prosecuted the cases.

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