People Get Ready

“I saw it on the news,” said NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley.

The chief of police in New Orleans didn’t know until he saw it on the news that District Attorney Eddie Jordan was dropping charges against a man who executed five teenagers a year ago in Central City.

Jordan’s excuse? He said the witness couldn’t be found.

On the news that the case was dropped, NOPD detectives found the witness.

How did they find her? (Wheel of Fortune music …)

Yeah, that’s right. They looked in the case file! Then they drove out to see her, on the same day, and got a confirmation that she will testify in the case against the gunman, Michael Anderson.

Meanwhile, the incredible disappearing mayor, Ray Nagin, said in a letter that he was going to ask Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti — the guy who’s prosecution against a doctor accused of euthanizing patients in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is falling apart — to investigate Jordan’s decision!!!???

Ray Nagin: Grow a pair, and tell Eddie Jordan yourself what you think! Don’t use a proxy to do your job! If you can’t do your job, then we should all demand that you too pack your shit and go.

The is the first time that Ray Ray has spoken up in anger about the dysfunctionality of the criminal justice system — and the D.A.’s office in particular. Ironically, his statement against Jordan’s performance comes just a few days after he was berated — extremely effectively — by a citizen on a radio talk show. A woman called in to remind Nagin that, after the January march against violence, he promised that crime would be his number one priority. The caller then pointed out to Nagin that if crime was his number one priority, he would have had something more to say about Eddie Jordan dropping charges against Dinerral Shavers’ alleged murderer. Nagin replied that he did, when he was asked about it in an interview. The caller correctly stated that it was insufficient for the mayor to passively address a problem when a question came around in an inteview — like he’s a celebrity or something who waits for the lights and cameras to show up. He can ask for the attention of the press anytime he wants it. He needs to lead!!! — that is, of course, if he wants to be a mayor, and not just go around acting like one.

At least now Nagin is behaving like he wants to lead — or doesn’t want to be criticized again so decisively for not looking like he’s leading — but as with the post-Katrina recovery of New Orleans, he wants someone else to do the work. Hey — does anyone remember who Lee Brown is? Wasn’t he the guy Nagin paid $100,000 months ago to come up with a community policing plan as his response to 5000-strong march on City Hall? Anyone heard from him? Obviously, this was another expensive PR stunt to help a witless mayor muddle through his job.

Said Houston blogger Tom Kirkendall (HT: Ernie the Attorney):

If his time here is any indication, Brown will implement a two-pronged attack. He will a) bore everyone to death, using content-less, cliché-filled, charisma-free speeches to put criminals into a stupor; and b) take a lot of taxpayer-funded out-of-town trips. We’re sure Rome and London need to be studied closely for tips on how to stop Ninth Ward gangbangers.

So let’s stop beating around the bush, shall we? Eddie Jordan is a disaster as much as Ray Nagin is a disaster as much as Bill Jefferson is a disaster. In fact, the ongoing disaster of post-Katrina New Orleans is as much the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers levees as it is our own race-baited electorate (or “folk” as Ray Nagin likes to call his constituents).

This isn’t the first time Eddie Jordan’s had trouble finding a witness. Just a few months ago, WWL did a story in which a witness — I believe it was a retired NOPD cop — was alleged by the D.A.’s office couldn’t be found. The reporter found him by looking up his name in the phone book.

Jordan dropping charges against Michael Anderson occurs less than two weeks after Jordan dropped charges against another defendant in another high-profile case, David Bonds, the defendant in the murder of the beloved Hot 8 Brass Band drummer, Dinerral Shavers. In that case, Jordan said a witness refused to testify.

1) Jordan’s job is to do whatever he can do to make cases and to prosecute the bad guys. His job is do to whatever he can to compel witnesses to do their moral and civic duty to testify.

2) Jordan’s job requires that he have a positive, pro-active, productive, successful relationship with every other law enforcement official. If he needs help getting a witness to testify (after he actually asks them to testify), he should be working with other leaders in the community to help — ministers, public officials, sports players, peers in the community.

Whether a witness will testify or not isn’t a decision like which restaurant to go to for dinner. It’s a decision which, depending upon the circumstances, may require an enormous amount of support. So where’s that support — not just from Eddie Jordan’s office, mind you, but from the entire community — for witnesses? US Attorney Jim Letten helped relocate the witness in the Anderson case, but we need to know that the criminal justice system has a success rate in getting witnesses into court. There is no — absolutely no excuse — for a D.A. who can’t find a witness.

I understand the concerns that witnesses have about their own safety, and the safety of their loved ones, if they’re being intimidated by a defendant. There’s also the trend — reinforced by rap lyrics — against snitching. I’m not an African American. But I do understand the fear of gun-toting drug dealers. I will not, however, succumb to fear for “snitching” against murderers and drug dealers. This problem is a cultural problem as much as it is a criminal justice problem. Eddie Jordan was elected in large part by an African American constituency — supported by Dollar Bill’s political machine. It’s his job to work toward correcting cultural attitudes if they need fixing. Where’s the leadership?

Maybe, in addition to our efforts to get rid of Eddie Jordan, we should also just elect a shadow D.A. to follow Eddie Jordan around and make sure the job’s getting done — such as when Eddie Jordan said he notified the NOPD about witness problems in the Anderson case through prosecutors who sent a letter five months ago saying they were missing witnesses in the Anderson case along with fourteen other cases.

Well, how about sitting down with Riley on a regular basis to have an actual conversation about high-profile cases and problems? Isn’t that what you all promised you were going to do back in the January crime summit, and what you testified you would do before the City Council?

How about actually personally speaking to witnesses in high profile cases, to reassure them that they and their loved ones will be safe, that their testimony is important, and that the defendant won’t be let loose on the streets after Jordan’s incompetent staff fails to prosecute them? But no, the witness in the Anderson case said Jordan’s office never spoke with her.

Jordan’s prosecutor in the Anderson case said she never even tried to contact the NOPD for help in finding the witness. Really? I’d say she just lost her job. Can we expect that to happen in the office Eddie Jordan packed with incompetent prosecutors after he fired all the good ones — because they were white?

At the end of the excellent Laura Maggi/Gwen Filosa Times-Picayune article, Nagin’s spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett was quoted:

“The mayor has been very consistent on his priorities for reducing violent crime. He’s been consistent on pulling every element of the criminal justice system together to work together to improve that,” Quiett said. “Those things have not been done, and it’s not acceptable to the people of the city of New Orleans.”

So that means that Ray Nagin has failed. Can you read it any other way? Ray Nagin said that he is working to get the criminal justice system to work, and it isn’t working. He has failed. Eddie Jordan has failed.

That’s why I’m saying Eddie Jordan and Ray Nagin should both pack their shit and leave New Orleans!

I wonder if we could get Eddie to finally answer that question Brian Ross asked him just about a year ago, before the petulant little twirp walked off of the ABC set.