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First ‘Synthetic Marijuana’ Arrest Made in Louisiana

August 18th, 2010 | Posted in Courts, Drugs, Local Issues by bloom | No Comments »

Police in Slidell have reported what appears to be the first arrest in Louisiana for possession of a marijuana substitute commonly referred to as “Mojo” (also known as “spice”) in conjunction with a State Law that went into effect on August 15, 2010.

Photo Courtesy of Nola.com

Several strains of incense that contain synthetic derivatives of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) have recently risen to prominence across the country due largely to the fact that many states have yet to officially ban their sale or possession.

The law that went into effect in Louisiana last week classifies “Mojo” as a Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substance – the same classification that applies to Marijuana, Ecstacy, Heroin, LSD, GHB, and any other substances which are currently deemed by the state to have no accepted medical use.

Wherever you are in Louisiana, if you have been arrested for or charged with a drug-related crime, Bloom Legal is here to ensure your constitutionally guaranteed right to competent legal counsel. Contact us today at 504.599.9997 for a free drug-related crime consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney.

Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office Expands Program That Helps To Avoid Jail Time

August 2nd, 2010 | Posted in Courts, Drugs, Local Issues, NOPD by bloom | 1 Comment »

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office has been running a program since October 2009 that allows individuals convicted of non-violent crimes to avoid incarceration. The New Orleans Day Reporting Center involves 2 levels of primary participation that include daily treatment, drug and alcohol testing, community service, and requirements of maintaining an active job search or enrolling in school.

The initial success of the program which has just seen its 4th group of participants graduate has led to the expansion of the program’s services to include Jefferson Parish this month.

Candidates for the New Orleans Day Reporting Center receive recommendations from the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Probation and Parole.

If you have been arrested for or convicted of a non-violent crime such as a drug possession charge, you may be eligible for participation in this program which would allow you to avoid the very serious prospect of incarceration. Call Bloom Legal at (504) 599-9997 for a free consultation to discuss your options in this situation.

Orleans Parish Criminal Court releases statement of case backlog

July 21st, 2010 | Posted in Courts by bloom | No Comments »

The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court has released numbers from a Metropolitan Crime Commission analysis of 2009 showing that judges have reduced the buildup of old cases on their dockets. Following Hurricane Katrina, the courts were swamped with a backlog of cases that slowed proceedings in the Criminal Courts. The statistics released from the Crime Commission show that judges have diminished their pileup of old cases with improved case processing. Time between arrest and completion of trial has dramatically fallen since Hurricane Katrina. The 2009 median case processing time for all 12 sections of criminal court was 120 days, 20 days shorter than the 2008 number, and a far cry from the 232 days in 2007. Over the three year period, the courts have made tremendous progress in operating more efficiently. Particularly when considering the actions of District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro in accepting more cases, and loading judges with more cases. This trend is very beneficial for the city of New Orleans. Decreased time between arrest and trial conclusion means less money spent by the city in housing defendants in jail. This allows the city to focus their expenditures on other areas that need improvement. Hopefully the Orleans Parish judges continue their good work and we will see their case load reach the national level of efficiency.

Vehicular Homicide Sentence Upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court

July 12th, 2010 | Posted in Courts by bloom | No Comments »

A recent ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld a 30-year
sentence for a Breaux Bridge woman who plead guilty to vehicular
homicide after killing 2 people in a car accident while on a cocaine
binge. Her lawyers had initially succeeded in getting the 30-year
sentence struck down as excessive by Louisiana’s 3rd Circuit Court of
Appeals, but the appeal was overturned and the sentence upheld by
Louisiana’s Supreme Court last week, with the justices stressing the
seriousness of her crime and its deathly result.

With summer in full swing, and holiday weekends on the horizon, please
be careful when attending parties or festivities. Louisiana has
steadily increased the minimum and maximum penalties for vehicular
homicide over the years, which now stand at 5 and 30 years,
respectfully. If you are planning on partying, do it safely and take
precaution. 5 to 30 years in prison is a long time to sit thinking
about an accident that could have been avoided. Should you or anyone
you know be involved in a traffic incident, whether sober or under the
influence, contact Bloom Legal at 504-599-9997 with any questions you
may have and for a free consultation.

Louisiana Judge’s Investments Under Scrutiny

July 10th, 2010 | Posted in BP Oil Spill, Courts, Local Issues by bloom | No Comments »

In the wake of U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman’s decision to lift the ban on offshore drilling established by President Obama, supporters of the moratorium have raised concern about whether the judge should have recused himself because of energy investments he made that could have led to a biased ruling.

Feldman owned stock in Exxon-Mobil, which had plans to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, but were set back by the moratorium. The judge also held stock in Allis-Chalmers Energy Inc., a Houston company that provides services and equipment to oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico, and Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded on April 20.

An Associated Press investigation launched in June showed that more than half of the federal judges in districts affected by the BP oil spill have significant investments in the oil and gas industry.

Judge wants to end moratorium

June 23rd, 2010 | Posted in BP Oil Spill, Courts by bloom | No Comments »

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman stated that there should be an injunction on the federal moratorium for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico during the next six months.  Instead of allowing the executive branch to perform its duties with regard to environmental safety, Feldman believes that there is no focus on the human safety with regard to economic concerns.  After hearing of this motion from the judge, the White House pronounced an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, located in New Orleans.  Some fear that this process will draw out, and wind up as a standstill even after the six month moratorium is finished. 
 
With more information released about Judge Feldman, rumors that he still has investments in Transocean Ltd., the company that owns the Deepwater Horizon Rig have started to form.  Considering that on his last two financial disclosure reports the company has been present, there have been many questions brought up to Feldman, but he has been unable to be reached. 

Supreme Court Restricts Life Sentences for Juveniles

May 26th, 2010 | Posted in Courts, National Issues by bloom | No Comments »

The Supreme Court ruled Monday May 17, 2010 that juveniles could no longer be handed down life sentences for crimes other than murders. In a 5-4 decision, the court decided that there must be “a meaningful opportunity to obtain release” for prisoners that are tried as adults while they are juveniles.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. It emphasized the difference between a child and an adult in the judicial system and stressed that children must be dealt with in a special manner. The Supreme Court made this decision on the case of Terrance Graham, who was found guilty of armed robbery twice when he was 16 and 17. Graham, now 23, is incarcerated in Florida, which currently accounts for 60 percent of juveniles imprisoned for life for crimes other than murder. Currently, however, there are only 129 such cases in the United States. Other states that impose these sentences are California, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.

Dissenting opinions came from Justice Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. Both saw this ruling as problematic as it creates federal prison standards for state justice departments and both saw this as unnecessarily intrusive.

Kennedy justifies his decision: “The state has denied him any chance to later demonstrate that he is fit to rejoin society based solely on a non-homicide crime that he committed while he was a child in the eyes of the law. This the Eighth Amendment does not permit.” The Eighth Amendment deals with excessive bail, fines and cruel and unusual punishment. In this decision, the Court must have determined that it is cruel and unusual punishment to imprison a child for a non-murder crime for the entirety of their lives.

Supreme Court Rules that Life Imprisonment Without Parole for Minors is Unconstitutional

May 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Courts, National Issues, Personal Injury by bloom | 1 Comment »

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that it is unconstitutional for a court to sentence a minor to life imprisonment without parole unless he or she commits murder. The Supreme Court ruled that such sentences are disproportionately harsh and can, therefore, be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. This decision builds upon the 2005 Supreme Court ruling that renders the death penalty unconstitutional for minors. The Supreme Court supports its decision by arguing that minors are less culpable than adults because they are still developing. Consequently, it is impossible to determine whether or not a minor has the potential to successfully function in society later in life. By sentencing a minor to life imprisonment, the court would be denying the young person the right to prove his ability to contribute to society once he has “demonstrate[ed] that he is fit to rejoin society.” This decision, however, does not require states to release juveniles who have previously been sentenced to life imprisonment, but rather, mandates that states must allow these individuals the opportunity to obtain release based on maturity, growth, and good behavior.

Zoë Clements is a student at Tulane University. She can be reached by email at zclement@tulane.edu.

Cannizzaro Changes Means of Marijuana Prosecution

April 20th, 2010 | Posted in Courts, Drugs, Local Issues by bloom | No Comments »

On August 6, 2009, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro Jr. proposed to the New Orleans City Council to pass an ordinance that would allow for simple possession of marijuana cases to be tried in municipal court instead of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. The changes came into effect in late March of 2010.

Cannizzaro believes that this will allow “for our resources to be better directed to dealing with more serious charges in criminal court.” Currently simple possession of marijuana charges account for one-third of the 2100 pending charges in District Criminal Court and are punishable with a fine of up to $500 or six months in prison. Cannizzaro argues that the adjustment “saves money as far as the processing of the case, (by not) having the case continuously coming back on the docket (when in criminal court), and…we’re disposing of a large number of cases very, very quickly.” 


Cannizzaro would also like to see the enforcement of simple possession offenses change as well. In this, he advocates for the New Orleans Police Department to begin issuing municipal citations for misdemeanors instead of jailing suspects. This would result in a decrease of the swelling of prison populations, as suspects would not have to be processed through Central Booking. This would also remove Criminal Courts from the proceedings entirely. Cannizzaro claims that state law allows for him to determine the course of prosecution for crimes that don’t guarantee a trial-by-jury and thus he has the power to make these changes.

The Orleans Criminal District Court argued against the shift stating that the move would cost their budget several hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, Cannizzaro believes that efficiency in the judicial system should trump the monetary needs of one office over the other.

While awaiting trial for murder, New Orleans man gets life sentence for past crimes

February 3rd, 2010 | Posted in Courts, Local Issues, NOPD by bloom | No Comments »


By Gwen Filosa, The Times-Picayune
February 03, 2010, 11:53AM

clifford-pierce.jpgOrleans Criminal Sheriff’s DepartmentClifford G. PierceAn Orleans Parish judge has sentenced Clifford Pierce, 35, to life in prison without parole for being a quadruple offender, three years after a jury found him guilty of possession of a stolen car.

But between the guilty verdict, delivered July 31, 2006, and his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Pierce was freed on an $8,000 personal recognizance bond and eluded Criminal District Court until March 2008, when he was tracked down in a Georgia jail, according to the court minute records.

Having posted bond and given a Shreveport home address, Pierce was free to murder his girlfriend in eastern New Orleans on June 2, 2007, prosecutors say.

Pierce is awaiting trial accused of the second-degree murder of Tammie Johnson, who was killed at 4817 Rosalia Drive. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office secured a murder indictment from a grand jury last fall.

Johnson, 36, died of a shotgun blast to the chest.

Pierce has a motion hearing on the murder case scheduled for Wednesday before Judge Frank Marullo, but another judge, Lynda Van Davis, presided over the stolen car case that landed Pierce a life sentence.

Davis deemed Pierce a multiple offender after a hearing Tuesday, and sentenced him to life.

State Police said Pierce confessed to killing Johnson during an argument, and then taking off in her 2000 Ford Expedition, which was later found in Natchitoches.

Pierce stole two other vehicles after he dumped the Expedition, state troopers said, and also pawned Johnson’s jewelry. Pawn shop receipts led troopers to Pierce, who was in Georgia.

Pierce was serving time in Cobb County, Ga., for unrelated crimes when State Police took his confession to the New Orleans homicide. Pierce was arrested in June on a murder warrant and booked into Orleans Parish Prison.

The stolen car case began with Pierce’s arrest June 12, 2005, about two months before the Hurricane Katrina disaster crippled the New Orleans criminal justice system.

Pierce’s trial was among the first to take place post-Katrina at the Tulane Avenue courthouse on June 5, 2006, when a jury couldn’t reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors, then led by DA Eddie Jordan, secured a guilty verdict a month later at a new trial.

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