Live chat Thursday: Discuss The Lens’ reporting on fake subpoenas in and around New Orleans
Ask questions and offer suggestions on where to focus our reporting.
Category: Criminal Justice
Just-passed bill gives juvenile lifers a chance at parole if they’ve served 25 years
But prosecutors can oppose parole eligibility if they believe the defendant is irredeemable.
Louis Gibson and 300 other juvenile lifers could get parole hearings if lawmakers agree on a bill
Louis Gibson was convicted of murder for shooting a childhood friend, Latrone Davis. He's served 24 years in prison. Legislators are working on legislation to grant parole hearings to people who were juveniles when they were sentenced to life in prison. The law could affect about 300 inmates.
Defense attorney wants Orleans Parish DA to say if it used fake subpoenas in home invasion case
Attorney Craig Mordock says he hopes other lawyers follow suit.
Notices sent to witnesses on North Shore weren’t called subpoenas, but they looked real enough
We reviewed 33 notices sent by prosecutors since 2015. They had the court clerk’s name on them and told people they were “notified … to testify.” DA Warren Montgomery said they were misleading, but he doesn’t believe they were misused. A legal expert called them a sham.
The Lens sues District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro to force him to turn over fake subpoenas
His office has told us it doesn’t know how often they were used, and it’s too hard to look.
Orleans Parish DA sued over refusal to turn over witness subpoenas, real and fake
DA can’t say how often fake subpoenas were used, and it’s too hard to look
In rejecting a public-records request from The Lens, the district attorney's office said it was too burdensome.
Will prosecutors who sent fake subpoenas face any consequences?
The possibilities include disciplinary action, federal charges, and nothing at all.
Remembering Deb Cotton: New Orleans must hold leaders accountable for violence prevention
She died Tuesday. Here's the column she wrote while she was still hospitalized from her injuries in the Mother's Day second-line shooting in 2013.
