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Archive for the 'Attorneys Fees' Category
Jan. 15th 2010
By Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
January 15, 2010, 4:00PM
11wbshepherd4Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneAs his attorney John Reed, his mother Margie H. Richardson and father Eddie Shepherd stand by his side,State Sen. Derrick Shepherd,second from right, apologizes to his family and constituents after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering at the federal courthouse on October 10, 2008. His bond was revoked Friday and he was jailed after being arrested on outstanding warrants. A federal judge ordered former state Sen. Derrick Shepherd to jail on Friday, where he will remain until his February sentencing on corruption charges.
The decision by U.S. Judge Carl Barbier included revoking Shepherd’s bond, which had allowed him to remain free on bond after he pleaded guilty in a federal money laundering conspiracy.
Jim Letten.JPGThe Times-PicayuneJim Letten
The judge’s actions come on the heels of Shepherd’s arrest earlier this week on outstanding warrants, including one in New Orleans for domestic violence. According to New Orleans Municipal Court documents, Shepherd last February hit a woman and bit her. He is scheduled to stand trial in that case next week.
“One of the warrants is from last February and arose from a disagreement with a woman friend, ” Shepherd’s lawyer, John Reed, is reported as telling the Associated Press earlier this week.
Shepherd was arrested in Jefferson Parish in 2008 after he broke into his ex-girlfriend Thaise Ashford’s home, punched her in the stomach and took her cell phone and $100.
Those are seperate charges and are pending, according to court records.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said that until Shepherd’s arrest, federal prosecutors did not know he had any outstanding warrants.
“When we found this out, we brought this to the attention of the court,” Letten said.
A minute entry filed in the federal court record shows that a federal prosecutor filed two documents under seal before the judge ordered Shepherd to be remanded into custody.
Jan. 15th 2010
By Michelle Hunter, The Times-Picayune
January 15, 2010, 3:19PM
Jefferson Parish authorities arrested a two men and a woman for allegedly running a pair of Metairie motels as “houses of ill repute.”
Manhesh Mistry.jpgJPSOManhesh MistryManhesh Mistry, 41; Bharat Parikh, 57; and Zandra Davis, 31; all of Metairie, were arrested Monday by detectives with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Vice Squad after an investigation that began in August, according to arrest and incident reports.
Mistry, owner of the Travel Inn Plaza, 5733 Airline Drive, and Parikh, a clerk at the motel, are accused of renting rooms to undercover detectives who posed as a pimp and a prostitute, the reports said. On at least three occasions, they allegedly rented the “pimp” a room at a rate of $45 for two hours for the pimp’s “girl” who would be working out of the parking lot, according to the reports.
Bharatkumar Parikh.jpgJPSOBharatkumar ParikhThe investigators even staged a fake solicitation in full view of the front office using other detectives.
Davis is accused of doing the same in her capacity as a clerk at La Village Motel, 100 Manson Ave., incident report said. Detectives used the same ruse at the business on at least two occasions.
Mistry and Parikh, both of 5733 Airline Drive, Metairie, were booked with three counts of letting premises for prostitution, three counts of running a house of ill repute and renting a motel room for an hourly rate.
Zandra[1].Davis.jpgJPSOZandra DavisDavis, of 100 Manson Ave., Metairie, was booked with two counts of letting premises for prostitution, three counts of running a house of ill repute and renting a motel room for an hourly rate.
Jan. 13th 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The Sturgis woman who prosecutors say was arrested with a blood-alcohol level almost nine times the legal driving limit, has pleaded not guilty in Sturgis to driving under the influence.
Marguerite Engle, 45, entered the plea Tuesday in Meade County Magistrate Court in Sturgis. Engle was arrested Dec. 1 when she was found passed out behind the wheel of a stolen delivery van along Interstate 90.
Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal said Wednesday that other charges against Engle will be presented to a grand jury on Thursday, Jan. 14. Those include driving under the influence, misdemeanor marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and not having a valid driver’s license.
Sondreal earlier said Engle had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found behind the wheel of the vehicle parked on I-90.
A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Engle passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen from Rapid City.
Her blood-alcohol level was almost nine times South Dakota’s legal limit of .08 percent.
Engle’s reading may be the highest ever recorded in South Dakota, Sondreal said.
Sondreal said a state chemist recalled a sample that tested .53, but nothing higher, in his more than 30 years on the job.
Dr. Robert Looyenga, who recently retired from the Rapid City Police Department’s forensic laboratory, told Sondreal that the highest blood-alcohol sample he tested measured .56 percent.
Sondreal’s research indicates that a blood-alcohol level of .40 is considered a lethal dose for about 50 percent of the population.
“Engle’s was almost double that,” Sondreal said.
After she was found, Engle was hospitalized and freed on bond.
She failed to appear in court on Dec. 15, but Sturgis police located her Jan. 4 in another stolen car sitting in a ditch along S.D. Highway 34 near Fort Meade.
Engle was arrested for second offense driving under the influence and taken to jail. She is being held without bond.
Sondreal said Engle has been living in a hotel after recently moving here from Minnesota.
Engle is most likely facing charges in Pennington County since both vehicles were stolen in Rapid City, Sondreal said.
Jan. 10th 2010
By Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
January 10, 2010, 8:00AM
warren_riley.JPGMatthew Hinton / The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley made the allegation against City Councilwoman Stacy Head in an interview on WBOK-AM.With just months left in his tenure as police chief, Warren Riley went on the offensive in a radio interview this week, alleging that City Councilwoman Stacy Head used a racial slur to describe him in a recent e-mail message and that his success as a crime fighter has been systematically downplayed for political reasons.
Without offering evidence, Riley alleged Wednesday on an interview on WBOK-AM that the message from Head referred to him as a “n—–.” The allegations are the latest in a long-simmering feud between the police chief and the councilwoman.
Head called Riley’s assertion, for which he has yet to offer any proof, “absolutely, wholeheartedly, unequivocally not true. It’s against my grain; it’s against my core.”
“I don’t know the genesis of this, but it’s a shame he has stooped to that level,” said Head, who is running for re-election to her District B seat. “It’s below the belt and personal. But I don’t see any need to try and disprove an untruth. I don’t see at this point any need to engage, since our professional relationship is shortly coming to an end.”
Riley’s office did not respond to e-mail messages and telephone requests for comment Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, police spokesman Bob Young said Riley suggested that reporters look through Head’s e-mail messages themselves. Young would not confirm whether Riley actually saw the alleged message or when it was sent. Young declined further comment.
With a closely contested mayoral primary on tap Feb. 6, race - always a hot-button issue in New Orleans politics - has become a dominant theme on the airwaves and on the campaign trail. One mayoral candidate cited it as a reason for dropping out, while another held a news conference to blast the media for focusing on race. Just months ago, recently departed recovery czar Ed Blakely declared that “everyone’s a racist” in New Orleans.
stacy_head.JPGChris Granger/The Times-Picayune archive’It’s below the belt and personal,’ City Councilwoman Stacy Head said.
Riley’s recent comments came in a wide-ranging interview in which the chief, who has said he will leave office in May when Mayor Ray Nagin’s term ends, blasted his critics. He decried the local media, some politicians, business leaders and a “shadow government” — all of whom, he said, have joined forces to make him and Nagin appear incompetent.
“There are certainly people in city government and leadership positions who are incompetent, who are blatantly racists, who have done everything they could to make this administration fail,” Riley said.
Riley said that unnamed “powerful” people have launched a campaign to downplay his and Nagin’s successes as city leaders.
The allegations about Head’s e-mail came up when a radio station caller, who went by the name Malcolm, mentioned the alleged message.
The caller said: “I hear some of our council members are sending e-mails out — one in particular, Ms. Head, sent an e-mail saying she hopes you fail and let’s not approve your budget. But anyway, she’s the failure in all of this anyway.
Riley responded: “You forgot the N-word that was in that e-mail, from what I understand.”
“Well, yeah, you heard about it,” the caller responded. “She said ‘Let’s make this Negro, not Negro, but she used that other one.”
The caller then lambasted the media for ignoring the message. “The news (media) did not, nobody else put that out, nobody else interviewed, nobody made a big story about that. And if it was somebody of color that sat on the City Council who had that kind of behavior, would have been asked to step down.”
Head’s e-mail messages, including some about Riley, have come under intense public scrutiny since a trove of her city electronic messages were released last year. While many were intemperate or embarrassing, none used racial slurs.
In one message, Head wrote of Riley that she was “twisting his balls.”
In others, she called colleague Jackie Clarkson “an ASSS” and “a disaster” and ridiculed the purchases of a woman using food stamps in line ahead of her.
Head responded by saying the messages were released by critics using “tired, old political antics” to gain power.
In the radio interview Wednesday, Riley said there is a “takeover” in the city.
“We have talked about a shadow government. You can decide in your own mind who the shadow government is, and so can your listeners. Has there been an organized effort to make certain leaders in this city look incompetent? Absolutely. With an attempt to ensure that even African-Americans were fed up with African-American leadership,” he said.
Riley said the recent release of a poll - showing that only 33 percent of citizens are satisfied with the NOPD - was timed to dissuade him from entering politics. The poll was unveiled by business leaders shortly before the political qualifying period. Riley also alleged The Times-Picayune chose that week to release several negative stories about him.
“There’s a revolution going on, and we are missing it,” he said.
Riley also criticized the slate of mayoral candidates and promoted his tenure as police chief.
“You know, I listen to the mayoral candidates,” he said. “I run a bigger organization, and have had bigger budgets than any of these individuals. And I’m not knocking any of them. I’m just saying, I have had the ultimate challenge. The only person … there are two people who have bigger challenges than I. And that’s Mayor Nagin and President Obama.”
Riley added that, although several agencies have expressed interest hiring him, he is not going to be a police chief elsewhere.
“I’m looking at a public venture … with a couple people here in the city that I think would be profound and lucrative,” he said. “I also am looking at another position that I will absolutely not talk about. Regardless, I am going to do well no matter what. As I stated, my future is bright. If I don’t work another day in my life I’ll be OK. I’m not just a police chief.”
Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3301.
Jan. 9th 2010
By Gwen Filosa, The Times-Picayune
January 09, 2010, 1:04PM
Prosecutors have dropped a criminal case against an investigator for the Orleans Parish Public Defenders Office, months after a dramatic court hearing in which she was led away in handcuffs and accused of kidnapping the alleged victims in a child rape case in order to get an interview.
Emily Beasley, 22, was facing a simple kidnapping charge and a contempt of court conviction on July 15. But by Dec. 16, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office refused charges after all.
“Cooler heads prevailed, ” said Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton. “She was doing her job. Emily continues to work for us and she has been fully reinstated.”
Judge Frank Marullo had earlier dismissed the contempt of court charge against Beasley for speaking with the two girls at the center of the rape case outside their home.
Troy Harris, 40, is due to stand trial on aggravated rape, kidnapping and indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13 on Feb. 24 at Criminal District Court. He remains jailed without bond.
Harris is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl two years ago while her younger sister watched.
Beasley visited the two girls on July 9 after their mother told the defenders office not to speak to her or her children, the mother testified in July.
Beasley spent at least one hour talking to the girls on the steps of a church across the street from their apartment building, prosecutors said.
What prosecutors and Marullo called a violation of Louisiana law protecting victims of crime, the public defenders program called fair representation of indigent defendants that the New Orleans system hadn’t seen since Hurricane Katrina dismantled the office and a new wave of defense lawyers arrived.
If convicted of the rape charge, Harris will receive mandatory life in prison.
Two months after the July hearing, public defender Kendall Green, who was found in contempt of court in the matter but by September the case was reversed by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, withdrew his office from representing Harris.
Marullo appointed Arthur “Buddy” Lemann III to defend Harris.
“Passions run high when children are involved, ” Bunton said, explaining the initial kidnapping arrest for Beasley. “The right call was made.”
Jan. 9th 2010
by:
Nora Gasparian
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen was arrested on Christmas Day after cops in Aspen, Colorado received a phone call from his wife Brooke Mueller claiming that he had allegedly hit her.
When police officers arrived on the scene, they gave both Charlie and Brooke blood alcohol tests. Charlie did fine with just a .04 but Brooke registered a .13.
Let’s make a note that Mueller called the cops at 8:34AM. Who is drunk that early in the morning?
TMZ reports that Brooke even told a female cop right before the bail hearing that she was drunk when she made the phone call.
Charlie was booked for two felonies and one misdemeanor relating to domestic violence but he is claiming that he was just trying to defend himself and his wife happened to be the aggressor.
Charlie is due back in court on February 8.
Jan. 9th 2010
By Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
January 08, 2010, 10:07PM
Three people, including a brother and sister, were fatally shot and another woman critically wounded late Thursday night in a home invasion in the St. Roch neighborhood.
Inside a bedroom, the suspects killed two women with an assault rifle and wounded a third woman. They used a handgun to execute a young man in the rear yard, authorities said. They spared only a toddler.
MURDERS010910.jpg
The attack took place shortly before midnight inside a shotgun double in the 2700 block of Urquhart Street, a tough, residential neighborhood with houses cheek by jowl.
New Orleans police officers, responding to a report of a burglary, found the door ajar. Inside they discovered the female victims.
Kewanda Harris, 30, was killed by an assault rifle in one of the bedrooms. Her partner, Karen Matthews, who is in her 20s, had been fatally shot as well, according to John Gagliano, the spokesman for the Orleans Parish coroner who released the identities. Relatives and a neighbor confirmed their relationship.
Another woman, 26, was found alive but severely wounded. She was taken to LSU Interim Public Hospital in critical condition.
Desmond Harris, Kewanda’s 23-year-old brother, had been shot in the head and fell face-down in the rear yard, authorities said.
Police believe that the motive in the slayings revolves around drugs, which were often sold from the house.
“It appears that the shooting involved the sale and distribution of narcotics from that home,” said Marlon Defillo, assistant police superintendent. “We are trying to determine whether it was a drug rip-off or something else.”
Defillo said Friday evening that detectives had worked through the night and were pursing some “very good leads.”
By midmorning Friday, the house had been cordoned off, its front door affixed with a sticker from the coroner’s office. Two homicide detectives huddled in the cold as crime scene technicians snapped photographs in the rear yard of the coffee-colored home, which had sheets covering the windows.
Next-door neighbor Wallace Welsh, 45, said people frequently sold drugs in and around the home, and that drug sales are an ongoing issue in the neighborhood. Welsh, who confirmed their identities and relationships, said he heard little at the time of the incident and learned of the shooting when police arrived. He said he is haunted by what he saw.
Karen Harris, 44, a cousin of both Desmond and Kewanda Harris, said in an interview that her relatives grew up in the Magnolia public housing complex and recently settled into the Urquhart apartment.
She added that Desmond was the outgoing sibling, a “hard-working and fun-loving man,” employed at the Cat’s Meow nightclub on Bourbon Street. A manager there declined to comment Friday.
She also said Kewanda Harris was quiet, respectful and very much in love with her girlfriend.
Karen Harris had no answers for the motive in the killing of her cousins.
“I’m trying to find out myself,” she said.
Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3301.
Jan. 8th 2010
Three people dead, one wounded in overnight New Orleans shooting
By The Times-Picayune
January 08, 2010, 6:00AM
nopd-badge.jpg
An overnight shooting left two young women and one young man dead, according to the New Orleans Police Department. Another woman was critically wounded.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting inside of a home in the 2700 block of Urquhart Street about 12 a.m., police said. When they arrived, they found two unidentified women and a 26-year-old woman with bullet wounds to their bodies. They also found a 23-year-old man lying in the back yard with a gunshot wound to his head.
New Orleans EMS paramedics summoned to the scene pronounced the two unidentified women and the 23-year-old man dead. They took the 26-year-old woman to LSU Interim Public Hospital, where doctors later listed her in critical condition, police said.
Investigators didn’t release any of the victims’ names. They also didn’t identify any suspects or a motive behind the attack.
Police ask anyone with information about the crime to call Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 or toll-free at 877.903.7867. Tips leading to an indictment may receive a $2,500 reward, and callers don’t have to leave their name or testify.
Dec. 11th 2007
 Today, Drew Peterson announced that he has created a website with a fund, established for those who would like to help him pay his legal fees. AP reports that the site includes the following language (the site itself, www.defenddrew.com, shows “account has been suspended” as of the date of this post):
“For the cost of a few cups of your morning coffee, you can help to ensure that Drew can afford to support his ongoing legal defense, find his missing wife, and divert any remaining funds into a trust for his children.”
According to Peterson’s attorney, money that is collected will be used to pay not only for attorneys’ fees, but also for a private investigator to find Stacy, and anything left over will go into a trust fund for Drew’s four children.
How much do lawyers cost? How much would Drew Peterson need to collect here?
Read the rest of this entry »
Sep. 26th 2007
 Larry Burkhead has been counter-sued this week by his former attorney, Debra Opri. Debra Opri is claiming that Larry Birkhead harmed her reputation when he appeared on Larry King Live and said that Opri was a source for Rita Cosby, as she was writing her book, Blonde Ambition. Opri’s alleging that she’s had to spend $200,000 on a “crisis management team” to “salvage” her reputation. TMZ has put the Opri counterclaim online, if you want to read it.
What’s going on here? Can lawyers sue clients? Why would Opri sue Burkhead? And, will this force the revelation of the source materials for the Rita Cosby book? Will we get to see the video here?
Read the rest of this entry »
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