Orleans City business reports
This is the second story in a three-part series on how police and prosecutors are spending
public resources seeking lengthy sentences for non-violent, low-level crimes.
Shortly after Keva Landrum-Johnson took over as district attorney following Eddie Jordan's resignation Oct. 30, hundreds of new felony cases flooded the public defenders office, overwhelming the 29 defense attorneys.
After New Orleans regained its title as the nation's murder capital, the public demanded its city leaders crack down on violent crime. By filing hundreds of new felony cases each month, it appeared as if the new DA heeded their call.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the case, said Steve Singer, chief of trials for the Orleans Public Defenders Office.
The flood of new felony charges didn't target murderers, rapists or armed robbers -- they targeted small-time marijuana users, sometimes caught with less than a gram of pot, and threatened them with lengthy prison sentences.
The resulting impact has clogged the courts with non-violent, petty offenses, drained the resources of the criminal justice system and damaged low-income African-American communities, Singer said.
"We hardly have enough lawyers to handle the serious, violent cases, and now we're jamming up the entire system with marijuana cases," Singer said. "We never used to see this happen, then all of a sudden every second and third marijuana offense starts coming in as a felony."
Change in tactics
Landrum-Johnson's decision to accept felony charges on people
arrested for second and third marijuana possession offenses is a
dramatic break from the tactics of former DAs Jordan and Harry Connick.
Thanks to Stop the Drug War
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