Blog

NOLA.com reported today that Mayor Landrieu’s administration has issued a request that the New Orleans City Council introduce an ordinance to move traffic camera ticket violations to the city’s Traffic Court. The

John LaBruzzo, a Republican state legislator from Metairie (who last made headlines in ’08 when he announced that he was studying a plan to pay poor women $1000 to get their tubes tied), has filed a bill which would ban

Rep. Reed Henderson D-Violet, has introduced a bill in the Louisiana state legislature which proposes an increase of $30 to the court costs already added to fines imposed in Orleans Traffic Court. The proposed bill is...

NOLA.com reported today that the week of May 10 has been set as the tentative date for a federal appeals court to hear oral arguments in William Jefferson’s appeal of his federal corruption conviction. Mr. Jefferson who

The Times-Picayune reported today that District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office has been working recently to improve procedures at New Orleans Criminal District Court. Among other things, Mr. Cannizzaro has urged the

New Orleans has lead the nation for largest jail per-capita, with a pre-Katrina prison complex with 7,500 and a current complex of 3,550 beds, but that will change soon. A plan has been approved by the city council to build a

The Orleans Parish public defender’s office has been underfunded for years, but what was a cause for concern has now become a crisis. The office has instituted a hiring freeze, initiated plans to reduce legal...

Before Thursday, a person who was found possessing any amount marijuana or involved in prostitution would be immediately arrested because the crimes were only illegal under state law. The New Orleans City Council has voted...

Attorneys for Mark St. Pierre, an alleged associate of Greg Meffert the former New Orleans technology chief who has been implicated in a scandal involving kickbacks and other illegal bribes, have recently moved to delay the...

This Sunday is All Hallows’ Eve, and New Orleans will be buzzing with excitement all weekend. No doubt some of your co-workers have shown up in costume today, but as nightmarish as a meeting with Snookie or Lady Gaga might

In the largest shake up of the New Orleans justice system in years, the Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that misdemeanor cases may not be presided over by magistrate commissioners. For decades the unelected magistrates have

U.S. District Court Judge, Carl Barbier, who is tasked with presiding over the more than 300 lawsuits filed by individuals and companies against BP as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill has indicated that he would...

Two national reports have found that the fines imposed by New Orleans courts are unfair to the underprivileged. The courts have been accused of issuing “pay or stay” sentences which force the defendant to pay a fine or...

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an emergency stay at the request of the City of New Orleans against Judge Paulette Irons’ ruling last week that traffic cameras violate the city’s charter. The...

In a decision on Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal judge’s ruling that Washington Group International (a contractor employed by the Army Corps of Engineers) was entitled to...

As social media come to dominate more and more of our daily lives, unexpected consequences are emerging in a number of arenas. Recently, a Michigan juror selected to sit on the trial of a woman accused of resisting arrest was

The Supreme Court will take on a New Orleans case, Connick vs. Thompson, in October, from a murder trial in 1985. The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office is being held responsible for a suspected failure to train...

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...