ORLEANS PARISH CRIME NEWS

Tracking local crime and police news in New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans police responding to a report of shots fired at 9:47 p.m. Tuesday found a man lying face down dead in in the 2900 block of Gen. Taylor Street.

The man had been shot several times in the chest, said NOPD spokesman Officer Garry Flot. EMS medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The man was found face down among bullet casings on Gen. Taylor between South Claiborne Avenue and Willow Street. Police have no suspects or motive.

Chuck Cook / The Times-PicayuneRelatives of murder victim Liz Marinello, including her mother, Bertha Norman, far right, walk to the Lafayette courthouse on Monday.

LAFAYETTE - Jurors got a preview of the prosecution's case against former sportscaster and talk radio personality Vince Marinello this afternoon during the opening statements of his second-degree murder trial now under way in Lafayette.

Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman will hold an 11:30 p.m. news conference today to discuss the details of an investigation that thwarted attempts to smuggle drugs into Orleans Parish Prison, according to a spokesman.

A second murder trial for a man accused of killing artist Daniel Breaux during Jazzfest four years ago was postponed today. It had been slated to get under way this morning, but was delayed at the request of defendant John Duncan's lawyers.

Susan Poag/The Times-PicayuneVince Marinello, left, walks into the Jefferson Parish Courthouse in October with his attorney Lee Faulkner Jr. His murder trial begins today in Lafayette.

The high profile murder trial of Vince Marinello, accused of killing his estranged wife in 2006, gets underway this morning in Lafayette and could last as long as two weeks, authorities have speculated.

• See archived coverage of the case

Separate shootings in the Lower Garden District and the Carrollton neighborhood sent two unidentified men to the hospital Sunday night, the New Orleans Police Department said.

Bertha Norman remembers how her son-in-law Vince "Vinnie" Marinello kept copious notes, listing talking points he gathered from news sources in preparing for his radio talk shows.

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneVince Marinello, right, walks into the Jefferson Parish Courthouse in October with his attorney Paul Fleming, Jr. Marinello goes on trial in Lafayette Monday for the murder of his wife, Liz.

Bertha Norman remembers how her son-in-law Vince "Vinnie" Marinello kept copious notes, listing talking points he gathered from news sources in preparing for his radio talk shows.

"It was one of his habits to make check-off lists," said Norman, of Purvis, Miss. "He made checklists all the time."

So she isn't surprised that such a list will be among Jefferson Parish prosecutors' key pieces of evidence when Marinello stands trial this week in the death of her daughter, Liz Marinello.

Three men were shot near the intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Michoud Boulevard in eastern New Orleans early Friday morning, a police spokesman said.

WASHINGTON - Citing constitutional issues of "exceptional importance," Rep. William Jefferson's attorneys Wednesday asked the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to consider dropping 14 of the 16 criminal charges pending against their client.

Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneAntoinette Frank is escorted out of the Kim Anh restaurant after the jury was given a tour of the murder scene Sept. 9, 1995.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has canceled the Dec. 8 execution date for convicted killer Antoinette Frank, who remains on death row for the 1995 triple murder at the Kim Anh restaurant in eastern New Orleans.

Albert Woodfox

A federal judge Tuesday ordered the state to release one of the "Angola 3" inmates, freeing Albert Woodfox from a maximum security prison cell for the first time in 37 years.

Woodfox, 61, awaits his third trial for the 1972 murder of a Louisiana Penitentiary guard -- a stabbing that rocked the prison at Angola, La., during an already tumultuous time when Woodfox and others were organizing as Black Panthers to end inmate-gang rapes and other violence.

Louisiana State PoliceIn this 1953 photo, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Francis Grevemberg swings a sledge hammer at a slot machine at state police headquarters in Baton Rouge. Grevemberg died today. He was 94.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Francis Grevemberg, a former state police superintendent who led a sledgehammer-swinging crackdown against illegal gambling in Louisiana in the 1950s, has died of respiratory problems after surgery for a broken hip. He was 94.

A man found dead inside of a burning pickup truck Monday evening likely became ill and crashed his truck, according to authorities.

WASHINGTON -- It's now official. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, won't go to trial this year on his 16-count corruption indictment.

That was confirmed last week when trial Judge T.S. Ellis III scheduled a status hearing in the case for Dec. 19, 17 days after the trial was slated to begin. The hearing notice was posted on the Web site of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., on Monday.

The unidentified body of a man was found in a truck that had been set afire and left in a grassy area off Hayne Boulevard a few blocks west of the Industrial Canal, police said.

TED JACKSON/THE TIMES-PICAYUNEOrleans Parish District Attorney-Elect Leon Cannizzaro, right and NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley address the media Monday, November 24, 2008 after a national study named New Orleans the most violent city in the country. The annual crime ranking, compiled by researchers and published by CQ Press, examined statistics for six major types of crime in nearly 400 cities.

After a two-hour meeting Monday at police headquarters, Police Superintendent Warren Riley and newly sworn-in District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro pledged "better cooperation" between the agencies which have for decades clashed over cases.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office today announced the indictment of 31-year-old Mark Anthony Ott on one count of second degree murder in the June 2007 beating death of French Quarter hair salon owner Robin Malta.

A New Orleans grand jury today announced the indictment of 31-year-old Mark Anthony Ott for first degree murder in the June 2007 beating death of French Quarter hair salon owner Robin Malta, according to the office of Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.

Michael DeMocker, The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans police investigate the slaying of a 24-year-old man on Friday near Cambronne and Spruce streets. The city tops a new survey of the nation's most violent urban areas in a study released today.

Long known as an American murder capital, New Orleans also has the highest rate of overall crime in the country, according to a high-profile and controversial study released Monday.

A map showing the top 10 most crime-plagued cities in the United States.

Jennifer Zdon / The Times-PicayuneDistrict Attorney Leon Cannizzaro talks with NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley at the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation luncheon last week.

A week after officially taking office, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is scheduled to meet today with New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley to begin establishing a relationship many see as essential to the success of the city's criminal justice system.

A New Orleans man suspected of planting a bomb in a car that exploded in Irish Channel Sunday morning was apprehended by New Orleans police hours after the blast and was found to have bomb-making materials stockpiled inside his residence.

A man was shot in the face Saturday night in the 7th Ward, New Orleans police said.

New Orleans police just arrived on the scene of a shooting with multiple people wounded. Details are not yet available, but officers have swarmed the area near Spruce and Cambronne streets in the Carrollton neighborhood.

Stay with Nola.com as the story develops

A 33-year-old man shot Wednesday evening in West Carrollton neighborhood died from his wounds early Thursday morning, and now, it is up to his family to raise the three children he left behind.

Harry F. Connick

Below is a letter to the editor written by Former New Orleans District Attorney Harry F. Connick:

Re: "Lack of police report dooms cases," Page 1A, Nov. 20. Police Superintendent Warren Riley should be fired. And the district attorney should charge him with malfeasance.

Leaders of the Orleans public defenders office are asking the City Council to supplement their budget, saying their lawyers will not be able to handle the large volume of criminal cases in New Orleans without money to replace an expiring $1.7 million federal grant.

More than 500 moldering criminal cases dating back to 2006 were refused by the Orleans Parish district attorney's office this fall, with prosecutors citing the same reason for dropping all of them: Police never gave them a report.

The 16 year-old sister of a man fatally shot in front of their family's Gallier Street home last August told a jury in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court today that while she didn't see the face of the man she saw running from the murder scene, she remains certain she identified the right man that night: the defendant Louis Daniels, 22.

A man was shot today at about 1:45 p.m. near the intersection of Dryades and Third streets in Central City.

The victim was transported to a local hospital in an ambulance.

Police are at the scene now, scanning evidence, including more than a dozen shell casings in the street. An update on the man's condition was not immediately available.

David Taylor

A man who police say burglarized at least three homes near Tulane University turned himself in to authorities Tuesday morning, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

David Taylor, 43, faces three counts of burglary of an inhabited dwelling and one count of possession of stolen property, according to Orleans Parish jail records.

Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneA crime camera at the corner of St. Roch Avenue and North Villere Street was not operating when Kendrick Thomas, 22, was killed nearby Monday. Thomas' stepfather, Jimmie Ricks, said everyone in their St. Roch neighborhood knows the camera doesn't work.

More than a dozen of Kendrick Thomas' friends stood outside his house Tuesday afternoon, steps from the spot where he was shot dead the night before.

Jennifer Zdon / The Times-PicayuneActor Wendell Pierce, center, talks with Chief Warren Riley during the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation's annual fundraiser Monday at the Hilton.

On television, Wendell Pierce is an affable grump of a homicide detective working the streets of a crime-wracked, blighted inner city.

In reality, Pierce, 46, is a Katrina survivor, a native New Orleanian, and a community developer with big ideas.

Pierce drew on his experience as a fictional cop Monday in a speech at a benefit luncheon for the local law enforcement community, telling the audience about the real-life insight into police work he has gained from his role on the critically acclaimed and now-defunct crime drama, "The Wire."

Brandon Tate

New Orleans homicide investigators want to question a 24-year-old Gentilly man in connection to several open murder cases in the city, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

Police say that in the course of investigating the slayings, Brandon Tate -- who was last living in the 3900 block of Clermont Drive -- was identified as a person of interest by Homicide Detective Nicholas Gernon.

A 21-year-old man was shot to death Monday night outside his home in the 8th Ward.

The man killed during an apparent hit-and-run in Gert Town early Saturday was David Williams, 49, said coroner's chief investigator John Gagliano on Tuesday.

The former overseer of the New Orleans Police Department's evidence room churned out a steady stream of memos to supervisors warning them that the facility's lax security and manpower shortages were a "recipe for disaster."

An Orleans Parish judge has thrown out a fresh charge in an old murder case, finding that prosecutors waited too long to take the suspect to trial.

The grandmother of a 19-year-old who was murdered Wednesday night in the 7th Ward says her grandson was bringing her groceries when a killer took his life.

Superintendent Warren Riley

New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley acknowledged for the first time Thursday that $19,000 in cash is missing from the department's property room and promised to investigate the matter fully.

The department's Public Integrity Bureau will conduct a criminal investigation, though Riley said it's still unclear whether the money was stolen or somehow misplaced.

Ramon Antonio Vargas / The Times-PicayuneBrian Berthiaume, a guitarist with the local band Bad Off, foiled a burglary at a home in lower Broadmoor and held the suspect at gunpoint until police arrived. He discovered the crime in progress while walking his dog Buckley.

Ashley Alden may never have known that a man rummaged around her basement for a half-hour while she and her two children were upstairs in their Broadmoor living room Monday if her rock-guitar-playing neighbor hadn't taken his dog for a walk.

A 19-year-old New Orleans man was shot dead on a 7th Ward sidewalk as he walked home Wednesday night, police said.

Investigators are looking for a man they believe is responsible for a rash of burglaries in the Carrollton area over the last two weeks, not far from Tulane and Loyola universities, according to an e-mail alert from the New Orleans Police Department's 2nd District commander.

Susan PoagU.S. Attorney Jim Letten addressses the media after State Sen. Derrick Shepherd pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering at the Hale Boggs Federal Courthouse in New Orleans Oct. 10.

Boy, was I pleased when Barack Obama won the election. At last, I thought to myself, we'll be rid of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. Letten is a newspaperman's nightmare. You can't laugh at him because he never says anything stupid. You can't blast him because he is scrupulously fair. He works tirelessly putting crooks in stir, but is a most amiable fellow. He is an absolute dead loss.

So, thanks for nothing, Mary Landrieu. Just because Letten has done an exemplary job during the Bush administration, the doyenne of Louisiana Democrats does not think he should be replaced.

Councilwoman Stacy Head has long questioned the effectiveness of the city's crime camera program.

Under fire for crime cameras that critics say often don't work and haven't proved an effective tool for fighting crime, officials of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's administration tried Tuesday to redefine the equipment's purpose to justify spending another $1.6 million on maintenance next year.

At a City Council budget hearing, council members Stacy Head and Arnie Fielkow questioned the proposed expenditure, saying they need proof the cameras are providing a crime-fighting benefit.

Saying that it could adversely affect ongoing litigation related to the Youth Study Center, the city attorney today successfully asked the City Council to block a three-minute video that the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana wanted to show during the public-comment portion of a city budget hearing.

The hearing was called to help determine whether the council should approve $2.5 million for the controversial Youth Study Center, a detention facility.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneA crime camera at Frenchmen and North Claiborne was not working during a murder on nearby Frenchman Street this year.

Under fire for expensive crime cameras that often don't work and haven't proven an effective tool for police, Nagin administration officials today tried to redefine the equipment as serving a larger "public safety" purpose to justify spending another $1.6 million on maintenance next year.

At a council budget hearing this morning, Council members Stacy Head and Arnie Fielkow questioned the proposed expenditure for 2009, saying they needed more proof the cameras were providing a real crime-fighting benefit.

Three days after her brother's brutal murder, the oldest sister of victim Kevin Rowe says she is still desperate for information about his killer.

A 25-year-old man was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of bashing four vehicles in the same Faubourg Marigny block just moments earlier.

Crimestoppers has scheduled a press conference this afternoon to announce an increase in the reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Kirsten Brydum.

Jimmie Warner arrested, charged with second-degree murder

New Orleans police on Sunday nabbed a 19-year-old man they believe murdered a 15-year-old, mechanically skilled boy in the St. Roch neighborhood Saturday evening.

Jimmie Warner was booked into the Orleans Parish jail, charged with the second-degree murder of Javon Green, whom chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano identified Sunday.

Attorney Rick Teissier

A defense attorney attempting to retrieve a client's money, initially seized during a drug bust, said he discovered that almost half of it was missing from the New Orleans Police Department's property room.

Since last week, attorney Rick Teissier has filed two motions at Criminal District Court to get back $35,903 in cash seized from his client during a September 2007 arrest by New Orleans police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Both motions were granted by Judge Dennis Waldron, according to court minutes.

New Orleans police are asking the public to help find a stolen white, two-door 1999 Toyota Camry that "may be involved in other crimes."

Christopher Buckley

A New Orleans Police officer who resigned last month following his arrest on rape charges appeared in court Thursday morning to face additional sex assault allegations from the same victim.

Upon reviewing the alleged victim's statements against Christopher Buckley, police decided to book him on additional charges of sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile, according to court records.

A 72-year-old French Market jewelry merchant ended his marriage to a 25-year-old Nicaraguan woman by shooting her, wounding her critically, then shooting himself, fatally, during an argument in their eastern New Orleans trailer Saturday night, police said.

A man was killed early this morning on U.S. 11 at Irish Bayou, the New Orleans Police Department reported.

A man was shot to death shortly before 9 a.m. in the 1900 block of Piety Street, the New Orleans Police Department reported.

An eastern New Orleans man shot and killed himself Saturday night after shooting his wife in the head, New Orleans Police reported.

An eastern New Orleans man shot and killed himself Saturday night after shooting his wife in the head, New Orleans Police reported.

MATTHEW HINTON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEOfficer C. Walker, from left, Sgrt S. Joseph, and officer K.W. Jackson display the guns collected in the first hour of a no questions asked "Horns for Guns" event at the Treme Community Center. Community groups, police, musicians and educators will held a "Horns for Guns" event Saturday, November 1, 2008 at two locations in New Orleans, offering musical instruments or cameras to people who turn in weapons.

The revolver, with its bone-hued handle and swing-out cylinder, clunked into the milk crate with a dull thump.

A man once known as perhaps Louisiana's top specialist in gaming law pleaded guilty Friday to bilking the white-shoe law firm he worked for and some of its casino clients of $30 million, then stashing the bulk of it in a Swiss bank account.

An 18-year-old is behind bars after he shot at police officers during a foot chase in the Warehouse District this morning, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

Former Adams and Reese law partner Jamie Perdigao appears to have struck a deal with the federal government to plead guilty in the long-running and lurid case against him, in which he stands accused of stealing $30 million from his former employer and stashing the bulk of it in a Swiss bank account.

Gunplay Thursday night in the Irish Channel ended with a man being shot in the arm, police said.

Community groups, police, musicians and educators will hold a "Horns for Guns" event Saturday at two locations in New Orleans, offering musical instruments or cameras to people who turn in weapons.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneOn Wednesday, October 29, 2008, New Orleans Police investigate the shooting death of a 23-year-old man in the 6000 block of Beechcraft Drive. The murder, which was reported about 2:40 pm, was near the scene of a double murder that happened June 5 of this year near the brick house in the background of the photo.

A 23-year-old man was shot and killed next to his idling car at about 2:40 p.m. today in eastern New Orleans.