Polimom’s written at length about the problems with crime in New Orleans. There are just so many things wrong with the entire system… the funding of the public defender’s office, traditions of silence or fear by witnesses, and stupid judges like Criminal Court Judge Charles Elloie, who allow astoundingly dangerous people to go free “on their own recognizance” without even knowing the circumstances.
When told about the facts of the arrest in an interview Wednesday, Elloie responded: “I didn’t get any of that. All I got were the charges and his background. I didn’t know anything about the money or the multiple guns.”
Elloie said he doesn’t remember who called on Expose’s behalf but said he was told the seized cocaine was measured in grams, not ounces. Even so, Elloie said he “wouldn’t have been involved” if he had known all of the circumstances of the arrest.
“That’s a shocking amount of money,” he said. “And if I knew an AK-47 was involved, I wouldn’t have touched it.”
Since when does a judge allow ROR without knowing the circumstances? The accused was arrested with:
six ounces of cocaine; two assault rifles, — one with a bayonet and one with a 60-round clip; a Tec-9 with a silencer; four pistols; and $189,000 in cash, police said.
Polimom is totally unable to understand how this judge has managed to stay on the bench. It is precisely this kind of crass stupidity that enabled the total breakdown in the criminal justice system there in the first place, setting the scene for the publicity fiasco NOLA has been dealing with since Katrina scattered everyone to the four winds.
The people of the city need to contact council members, representatives, and the mayor, and tell them that blind justice does not mean allowing people who are arrested with two assault weapons, four pistols, and $189,000 cash to stroll away from central lock-up!
It’s time for some major changes, and the people of New Orleans are going to have to demand them, because it’s obvious that without direct intervention, the old ways are going to creep right back in. And nobody wants that.
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