Rising Tide and the dominoes falling with respect to the Public Schools administration have me happy, but for every step we go forward, New Orleans seems destined to move a large step backwards in the marathon towards Functional City Status. This latest setback has me in tears because, despite the glaring beacon that it is regarding our inability to prosecute violent crime, there will be no justice for a man who was a positive influence on this city before and after the storm and flood.
Charges Dropped In Dinerral Shavers Murder Case
The reluctance of the mother of a 14-year-old girl to allow her daughter to testify caused a high-profile murder case to fold and the district attorney to drop the charges Friday.
… The witness“ mother doesn’t deny protecting her daughter, but said she is upset that she and her daughter are being blamed for the case falling apart. I was scared, she said … They should have went to the people that seen the whole thing. The people that was in the car.
Whether the mother of the witness is afraid of retaliation or the district attorney’s job has done a poor job of lining up witnesses to this crime, we are left with charges being dropped against the accused due to the loss of the only witness. We continue the age-old New Orleans tradition of empowering the criminal’s sense of invincibility.
This takes us away from the DA’s office and back to NOPD. Riley’s staff has a 50% arrest rate; of every 100 people arrested, probably one is successfully prosecuted. So far, we’ve taken Eddie Jordan to task and rightfully so, but what else does his office have to go on besides the odd witness and alignment of stars? Where is the ballistic evidence? Was a gun in David Bonds’ possession matched with bullet(s) found in Dinerral Shavers’ body? Were Bonds’ associates and Shavers’ family adequately questioned? What prompted police to arrest this suspect other than the testimony of the aforementioned girl, in this case, a minor?
In the absence of detective work (hey, if the public wasn’t informed of any other form of evidence collection in this case, IMHO, it didn’t happen), what are we left with? As I mentioned to the NOLA bloggers in a recent email, I’m surprised, with the amount of “street justice” in New Orleans, that murderers, like Shavers’ killer, aren’t removed from the system in a vigilante fashion. A friend said, “With all due respect, if Mr. Shavers had no connections with the criminal world, no one is going to conduct justice on his behalf.” Adrastos responded similarly, “While it could still happen, NOLA street justice usually happens after criminal on criminal murders. Shavers was a civilian so it’s unlikely in his case.”
There are three solutions to this situation, and only one is optimal:
1. Shavers’ son and his buddies decide to conduct justice in the name of the father, in which case the young Shavers has blood on his hands,
2. The cycle of retaliation has to stop. We may want justice in Dinerral Shavers’ name, which the local justice department cannot deliver, but how long can people harbor vendettas and kill in the name of the Cosa Nostra, Bloods, Disciples, X, Y, Z or even the average citizen’s outrage?
3. Hold NOPD accountable – sit on the police department until they comb each major crime scene and provide airtight evidence to the DA’s office. It makes me more than a bit uncomfortable that the hope was to convict someone based on single-witness identification and testimony alone.
If law and order is inadequate in New Orleans, our protest of and demands on it should be that much more sophisticated. If this isn’t a kick in the tenders to NOPD, the DA’s office and everyone affected by the original crime and this subsequent one, perhaps a huge citizen outcry demanding better police work may be. Meanwhile, David Bonds, if he is indeed Dinerral Shavers’ killer, is free. Good luck finding the lad if he is let go.
Any reform will have to start with “chopping down the tallest tree.” Start with the biggest problem. That is Eddie Jordan, no question.
The reform push should focus on getting the Louisiana Bar Association to disbar Jordan.
But, as long as Warren Riley runs NOPD like a feudal monarchy and the economy is sluggish because of lack of tourists, we’re in for a long summer.
What does NOLA offer potential murderers? Nothing. Bad schools, little to no civic support, a tourist economy, no safety net, few people to go to for help and general poverty. Among youngsters, killing someone(s) seems to be the only path to self-esteem, recognition and getting their own.
Why does the lack of tourists cause crime?
Please explain that.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with you. There’s nothing more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose. The “Music In Schools” movement is incredibly important, as are other, long-term solutions. But, without some basic, short-term solutions, the long-term solutions will be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the disaster. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.
You’ve got to start reform somewhere, and I think Eddie Jordan is the best place to start. He couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel. It’s short-term, relatively easy to achieve, and will have tangible results. Do you have a better place to start?
The tourist comment was just sort of aimed at the generally sluggish economy. If New Orleans were a more prosperous city, there would be more economic opportunities and there would be more tax revenues to attack the problem.
Clay, I agree with you, too, my comment addressed the philosophy of crime here while the original post talked about the practical nature of combating it. Along with ejecting Eddie Jordan from “his turf,” I would highly recommend the city’s request of a working crime lab and more training for our existing and new officers in terms of evidence collection.
My husband worked IT in the NOPD crime lab before Katrina and used to marvel at how everything was new and it was one of the best-run aspects of NOPD, despite their being short-staffed and backlogged even back then. Now they’re hosed.