Recent events in the news highlight two sides of the debate over drunk driving. The dark side – repeat offenders often fall through the system and keep driving; and the light side – first offenders, given the opportunity to change through monitoring and education, often learn their lesson and don’t offend again.
Out of the studio of WDSU comes the story of George Semmes, a man who has arrested been 10 times in Orleans Parish for driving drunk, but has not stood trial a single time on any of those charges. In fact, he’s still driving around, putting the rest of us in danger every day. Read story
All of us make mistakes — it may be one of the few things we all have in common. Another thing we all have in common is the growing misuse of the word “mistake,” as in, “Why can’t people just get over Michael Vick — he just made a mistake.” Writing the wrong date on your checks is a mistake; if you do something consistently for over five years, then that’s who you are.
Louisiana’s Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater made a mistake. He was arrested on a first-offense DWI. No one was injured (though certainly someone could have been), and there was no evidence of any pattern of abuse or other red flag. In light of that, the Commissioner will not stand trial on his first-offense DWI, but instead will enter a pre-trial program for DWI offenders that seeks to rehabilitate, rather than demonize, those who have made this mistake. Read story
“We’re not treating him different than we would treat any other offender,” says Baton Rouge City Court Prosecutor Lisa Freeman, “Rainwater will have to breathe into an interlock device to start his car, pick up litter and undergo alcohol screenings as part of the program.” Freeman continued, “He’s a first-time offender, which is why he’s eligible.”
This is not a special circumstance or a free ride. Over the course of a year, participants in this program must fulfill a number of requirements that include:
- Installing an interlock device for six months.
- Undergoing a substance-abuse evaluation with possible treatment being ordered.
- Attending classes on alcohol abuse as well as a class conducted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
- Completing driver improvement school.
- Performing 32 hours of community service, half of which is litter detail.
- Drug and alcohol screenings.
If Rainwater, like all program participants, successfully completes this program, then he will not have a drunken driving conviction on his record, and the DWI arrest will be removed after five years without incident. Compare Rainwater’s situation with George Semmes, the ten-time offender. Rainwater made a mistake. Semmes? Sounds like a way of living.
The point I want to make is that while DWI enforcement is important, diversion programs for first-offenders are a great way for offenders to learn from their mistakes. We shouldn’t be too quick to throw everyone under the umbrella of prosecution and punishment. Diversion programs can provide the necessary wake-up call for DWI offenders who likely will not repeat offend if given the appropriate sanctions and education.
We need a first time offender’s diversion program for DWIs like this in New Orleans. There have been whispers about it or years, but nothing formally done about it. If enacted, it could likely be as effective as other alternative sentencing programs currently in place in here, dramatically reducing the cost and efficiency of DWI prosecutions, while maintaining public order and safety by educating first offenders to help prevent future behavior rather than just punish past mistakes.
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Courtesy of NOLA Defender.
As New Orleans gets ready to open the Mardi Gras Mainline down St. Charles Ave. on Friday, Mayor Mitch gathered city officials and the press today to remind everyone that there will be police officers everywhere during Mardi Gras, that it is possible to be rude to others on the parade route and that the City of New Orleans now employs elbow grease.
“This event cannot work well without complete cooperation of citizens,” Mayor Mitch, flanked by City Councillors Jackie Clarkson and Susan Guidry, said. “Be civil, be respectful, follow rules, and be courteous to fellow parade-goers.”
NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas took a few moments to remind the public about a few parade route rules. Among the selections:
- Don’t throw anything back at a float. (It’s illegal.)
- Ladders must be far enough away from the curb so children who fall do not fall into the street.
- Don’t bring a large BBQ pit to the parade route. (Bring your small one.)
- Don’t put chairs or other items on the roadway between the neutral ground.Don’t park your car directly on the corner of two streets.
- As Landrieu said, it “If a police officer asks you to move, I think you should move. I learned that as a teenager.”
- Don’t bring your living room to the neutral ground during Endymion.
On the last topic, Landrieu offered a warning similar to one issued last year that was later found not to have been enforced:
“If you rope off an area and don’t let anyone in there, you’re gonna get asked to take that down,” he said.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman also implored people to wear flame retardant costumes, and City Hall promises all parade routes will be clear of debris within three hours of parades rolling through.
Photo by Lord Jim via Flickr Create Commons
Last week was a heavy one at NOLA Criminal Law. The posts were all about murder and rampant crime in New Orleans. But a “life of crime” shouldn’t always have to be so serious. I felt like lightening it up a bit this week, and showing that crime sometimes can be just plain…. well, dumb.
Simply choosing a life of crime shows a certain lack of common sense, but some criminals take stupid to another level all together. We appreciate their efforts to be easily caught and today celebrate some of the dumbest criminals.
Take the case of the man in Key West who tried to rob a bank wearing shorts on his head. He remembered to cover his hair – he just forgot to try to cover his face. Read more
Or the burglars in the U.K. who were arrested shortly booking a taxi using their real names to the crime scene and having it dispatch them to their home address with their loot in tow. Really?? Read more
Huffington Post broke the sizzling crime caper of the two teenagers who were arrested after entering the CNN newsroom from the neighboring Omni Hotel, to use computer there to check their Facebook pages. Read more
And this one bears mentioning here for the dark comedy of its special-place-in-hell-ness. An apparently wealthy man in Florida, facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a boy he allegedly killed while driving drunk, has “adopted” his girlfriend and placed his fortune in a living trust for the benefit of his new “child” in order to insulate his money from judgment. Read more if you can bear to.
Back to real news next week…
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Photo by Smarter via Flickr Creative Commons
Even in a town as jaded by murder as New Orleans, there are acts of violence that still shock and enrage the public. The murder of the Good Samaritan Harry “Mike” Ainsworth who was gunned down in front of his children while trying to stop an early morning carjacking is one such case. The neighborhood where the murder occurred has banded together, creating a neighborhood watch and posting police sketches of the murder on every possible surface. They demanded and received an audience with NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas, who told the assembly:
You’re not going to stand for it. We’re not going to stand for it. We’re going to demand that we become a better police department. I’m not satisfied with this police department yet, not at all, but we’re going to make this department what it has to be.
And Mayor Landrieu unveiled his latest program to fight the violence he referred to as being “unnatural and unacceptable.” Citing illegal weapons as a “major reason for the crime rate,” Landrieu proposed that New Orleans implement a crime fighting program borrowed from St. Louis that requires a minimum bond of $30,000 for illegal possession of a firearm. Landrieu’s version of the program additionally calls for these offenders to have to pay for and wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
Nice idea if it was narrowly targeted to focus on the worst offenders – but a blanket “set higher bonds” just means poor people suffer disproportionately. It doesn’t address the real problem. This program, like too many before it, is a copout solution that sounds like you are doing something. We need to seriously examine the ease with which people get guns – at least in the city. If the mayor thinks there are too many people with guns, lobby to make the gun laws more restrictive, and then prosecute and convict under those stricter laws.
People want it both ways:
- Guns, guns, guns for everybody, and no laws to limit them;
- Then we want to complain that the bad guys have too many guns.
Do the math. More guns means more guns for everybody.
Don’t get the idea that I want to ban ALL guns to everybody, I just think we need to find a way to control the unlimited flow of weapons we presently have. I’m not certain how, but if we were willing to even start down that road we might find an answer that worked. Problem is, we won’t even look in that direction.
Photo by Erin Hughes via Flickr Creative Commons
Tulane criminologist Peter Scharf is collecting data that suggests that increased services to convicted felons is good for society at large. Specifically, he is talking about increased mental health services, to accommodate the needs of the nearly 40% of the prison population that suffers from mental health issues.
“Typically, guys are medicated while they’re in jail, but they lose their prescriptions when they’re out on the streets,” Scharf told the Tulane New Wave. “Then they self-medicate with marijuana or stronger drugs. I believe it’s more effective to treat mental illness as part of a continuum of programs for correctional re-entry into society after prison.”
We are spending $65 billion on confining prisoners in the United States. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world. And, here in Louisiana, we have a recidivism rate of more than 50%. I’d say it’s time to shake things up a bit.
I would argue that the more money we spend on mental health, drug treatment and job training for ex-offenders on the front end, the less we spend incarcerating them on the back end.
Scharf hopes to provide more understanding to the links between mental health, drug abuse and the resulting violent crimes they foster. He believes we can save money and help people with the same investment.
I think he is worth listening to.
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For the second year running, NOLA Criminal Law is sponsoring the Hub Elite Cycling Team. The team, based in Athens, GA competes in elite level cycling events throughout the southeast. NOLA Criminal Law is proud to support and promote the sport of cycling, as well as to advocate for safe and responsible recreational/commuter cycling in New Orleans.
A still from the upcoming documentary Shell Shocked: The New Orleans Youth Story
My twitter feed is blowing up:
“Cops working several shootings in city at moment 1) Shooting Claiborne/Carrollton 2) Triple shooting on Elysian Fields 3) 1300 blk Columbus”
“Nelson elementary in Gentilly on lockdown as cops search for gunman. At least one suspect fired gunshots. Three suspects in custody”
“For those asking, we have 11 murders over first 12 days of this year — not including man fatally shot by cops today.”
Brendan McCarthy, crime reporter for the Times Picayune, is tweeting the pulse of New Orleans moment by moment, and the words on the screen of my iPhone are not looking good. We’ve got a problem, New Orleans.
Sure, it’s easy to call it a crime problem – but I’m not talking about a crime problem – I’m talking about a fixing problem.
At the beginning of this year, The Atlantic did a photos essay/article, “Patrolling the Streets of New Orleans at Night.” A photographer accompanies a young policeman on a ride-along, to see what the NOPD are doing about violent crime. The cop featured in the story is 23-year old David DeSalvo. Viewing the photos and seeing what he sees nightly is a sobering experience. This is not the land-of-dreams New Orleans. This is not the recovering, rebounding, rejoicing New Orleans that we tout to the nation and the world.
A new documentary is coming out that shows the staggering toll of violence in New Orleans: Shell Shocked: The New Orleans Youth Story. The filmmaker, John Richie, told WWL News that they didn’t meet one African-American youth who had not been touched in some way by violent crime to themselves or someone they know — a sad commentary on the dire situation at hand, indeed. (See WWL article)
The city’s leaders aren’t sure what to do. Mayor Landrieu formed SOS NOLA, an anti-violence initiative, and holds press conferences with Serpas whenever there is an overnight spike. Our D.A. touts his track record of accepting more and more criminal cases, and taking more and more of those cases to trial.
I am a criminal defense attorney. I spend time in the trenches defending these cases. When crime gets bad, and the powers-that-be start to respond, I get phone calls – I get cases. Right now my phone is ringing off the hook, and I’m in court more often than not faced with an offender looking at a D.A. hell bent on making a point. Sounds great right? Bad guys being called to task.
The problem for the citizens of this great city is that the people calling me aren’t the bad guys – they are college kids and tourists being hassled by NOPD and prosecuted by the D.A. for relatively minor violations. Sure, some bad guys are still getting arrested and prosecuted, but the vast majority of criminal prosecutions – touted as “the answer” to the crime problem – are for relatively minor, non-violent crimes. They have no effect on the real problem.
Remember back in 2010 that the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to designate marijuana possession a municipal offense, allowing police an option to issue a summons rather than make an arrest. The intention behind the change was that NOPD would have more time to deal with major crimes. Remember that? But here it is, 2012. Hundreds of kids are being hauled into court for marijuana possession, but the murder rate is still spiraling out of control.
The other prosecution du jour – Minors in Possession of Alcohol – a real public menace, right? In the fall of 2010 the NOPD received a grant to begin stepped-up enforcement of this crime. Since then, literally thousands of kids have been stopped by NOPD and prosecuted by the City for this charge.
We need more resources and more cops on the beat of David DeSalvo, beating a path in the city’s most violent neighborhoods, taking guns off the streets and out of the hands of our children. We need to spend our time and resources prosecuting bad guys, not pot heads and underage drinkers. Until we can properly identify and commit to solving the real crime problem, our efforts will have no real effect. As long as we continue to believe that prosecuting more “crime” can solve the problem, the longer we will continue to avoid fixing the real crime problem.
Not all murders are the same. And the difference can often be found in the character of the victim. As the New Orleans murder rate cycles from epidemic to pandemic, Superintendent Ronal Serpas is trying to remind average, law-abiding citizens that their risk of getting murdered is very slim. He has made the decision to publish the past criminal records of the city’s homicide victims, thereby hoping to send the citizens of New Orleans a message: most of the victims of the city’s many widely publicized murders are themselves criminals.
But is this the best (read: most tactful) way of doing this? Doesn’t the insinuation that their murder was somehow their own fault smack of an affront to the families of the recently deceased at an especially vulnerable time? Perhaps. There are certainly arguments on both sides.
NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden wrote, “I think it’s important for us to reassure locals who live by the law that they’re most likely going to be absolutely fine if they refrain from criminal activity.” David Kennedy, head of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, also told the Times-Picayune something similar: that the majority of homicide victims have extensive criminal histories, and that’s a fact the general public needs to know. According to NOPD data, 64 percent of murder victims have been arrested for a felony. “When we act as if this fact of prior criminal activity isn’t true, we send the signal that everybody’s at risk all the time,” Kennedy said.
Serpas seems to be keen on publicizing what many of us have sensed for some time — trouble follows trouble. It is, no doubt, reassuring to understand the connection between murder and the criminal behavior of the victims of murder, and by reminding folks on a case-by-case basis that the victims of murder were themselves involved in allegedly criminal conduct can certainly accomplish this.
But perhaps Serpas has taken too tactless of an approach. Consider Corey Thompson, who was killed not far from his home in the 6th Ward because the gunman wanted retribution against Thompson’s friends. Thompson himself did almost nothing to entice the murderer. So when Thompson’s criminal record of a simple battery arrest – ultimately dismissed – was released by the NOPD and later shown on the news, Hyatta Droughn, Thompson’s aunt, was rightly concerned.
“I felt like, ‘Why would they bring that up?’ ” she told the Times-Picayune. “His only arrest happened when he was a child. And his murder had nothing to do with that.” And she has a point.
Perhaps the blunt approach of releasing criminal records is too personal – and frankly, awkward. A better approach, it seems, would be to tirelessly remind the citizens of this great city that the vast majority of murders in this city are not committed against the majority of innocent citizens, but against a small minority criminal element.
Bottom line: not all murder victims are the same, and not all murders should be publicized and reported as if a random act of violence has been perpetrated against an innocent victim. Serpas’ heart is in the right place to ever remind the city of this, but I’m not sure he has to make it as personal as to publicize individual rap sheets in order to do it.
Photo by BluEyedA73 via Flickr Creative Commons
Holiday parties are coming on strong now.. I thought it would be helpful to put out there my own sort of P.S.A. about drinking and driving this holiday season.
The wisest thing we can all do is abstain when we know we have to operate a vehicle. Everyone knows the slogan: “Don’t Drink and Drive.”
It seems simple. But in a season full of holiday parties and happy hours where Christmas cocktails are featured, and even office parties have eggnog and champagne, and the boss is pouring, it’s really not so easy, is it? Especially in a city like New Orleans, with an alcohol culture (hello drive thought daiquiri shops, go-cups and 24-hour bars!).
And to add to the confliction, there are terms tossed around like “legal limit” and “blood-alcohol concentration” and percentages and such, so that the definition of “drinking and driving” is no longer clear cut. The notion of a legal limit implies that it is, in fact, OK to imbibe little and still drive a car. Then you find yourself making value judgments about your intoxication level… how many glasses of wine can YOU drink before you are drunk? I blogged about this recently. A good rule of thumb is that the average healthy liver can handle about one drink per hour (.08% BAC) — anything more than that returns to the bloodstream where it becomes anything but harmless.
So here are some facts for you culled from my website, and some helpful legal information, in case you do overindulge and find yourself regretting that last candy cane cocktail.
- In Louisiana, any driver with a blood-alcohol concentration – or BAC – above .08% is measured “per se intoxicated” under the law.
- The penalty for a first offense DUI/DWI is ten days to six months (maximum) in prison, plus a fine that will range from $300 to $1000. Your driver’s license could be suspended or revoked. If it is your first offense, it is possible to avoid jail time, but you need an attorney to help keep you out of jail.
- My advice is to always refuse the roadside breath test. In most cases, this will hurt your case. (Note: If you HAVE NOT been drinking AT ALL, it may benefit you to go ahead and take the test, but only if you have had NOTHING to drink).
- Exercise your right to remain silent. You should only answer questions regarding basic information, like your name and address. Do not answer any other questions. But be very polite to the officers.
If you are going to drink, decide beforehand exactly how much you will allow yourself to drink. If you know that it only takes one and a half glasses of wine to make you giddy, then stop at one glass. If you know you can’t handle hard liquor at all, avoid it and have a beer. Savor that drink, make it last, and take sips of water in between every sip of alcohol. And once you hit your limit, stop. Switch to spritzer with lime, or coffee, or cranberry juice, or whatever you want. May this wise advice also keep you from being the fool at the office party.
Contact me if you need assistance. You can call or text message me, Townsend Myers, at 504-237-5425. @NOLAlaw on Twitter
In 2004, Milwaukee had 87 murders. This was unacceptable to the city so in 2005 they began a program that partnered law enforcement with community leaders to not only investigate these crimes, but try to understand the root causes for each individual murder. They had plenty of work to do as they looked into and analyzed the 121 murders that took place that year. This Homicide Review Commission’s intent was to delve into the cause of each murder then design a strategy to limit or eradicate the conditions and behaviors that had been at the root of the problem. By 2009 the Milwaukee murder rate had dropped from 40 percent to 72.
Will this program work in New Orleans?
In 2010 our city saw 175 murders. As of the publishing of this post, we’ve matched that number — we’ve had two murders today alone (Nov. 30). We are not getting better. Our murder rate is about ten times the national average.
While New Orleanians have for some time been saying this is unacceptable, the powers that be have perfected the art of blue ribbon commissions and have authorized enough studies to explain the totality of the human condition without much positive effect. So now, Mayor Landrieu has announced his Mayor’s Strategic Command to Reduce Murders based on the Milwaukee model. See the article in the Times-Picayune.
Here, several different “action teams” will convene monthly, Landrieu said. There’s an executive squad made up of officials from local and federal law enforcement agencies. There’s a team of officers that will spring into action following a murder, seeking out suspects and family members. There’s a group dedicated to the data and policy aspects of murder, as well as a team focused on community service and outreach.
Columnist Jarvis DeBerry doesn’t seem so optimistic about the mayor’s new plan, and takes issue with the administration’s downplay of our crime problem (which is very obvious to the rest of us as well as any tourists who might have happened to witness recent gunfights on Canal Street and Bourbon at Halloween). See DeBarry’s editorial, The New Orleans murder rate can’t be downplayed.
Reading about the mayor’s plan, I’m hopeful for any program that addresses the root causes of crime. But I am a bit dismayed by the fact that no one is really sure where the money will come from. And a quick look at the Milwaukee crime stats show that the murder rate has been creeping back up passing those unacceptable 2004 numbers that brought about the original review program. We’ll be watching their progress as we simultaneously watch our backs.
It’s not going to be an easy problem to solve.
I am a New Orleans Criminal defense lawyer, and the managing attorney of NOLA Criminal Law. I am a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, with over 17 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. Please visit my website for more.
