Louisiana
Federal prosecutors in New Orleans charging more gun crimes
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — More gun prosecutions are being brought in federal court in New Orleans than at any time in at least 15 years, a review by The Times-Picayune found.
Prosecutors across the 13-parish Eastern District of Louisiana brought about 70 new cases last year in which the lead charge was a firearms offense, according to information from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which keeps data on federal prosecutions. That’s the most since 2007, when the federal government stepped in to fill a void after Hurricane Katrina.
Carjacking was the lead charge in at least eight federal prosecutions over the past two years in the Eastern District, after none for four years, the TRAC data show.
Interim U.S. Attorney Duane Evans told The Times-Picayune that he set out in 2021 to increase prosecutions of “the worst of the worst,” including people repeatedly accused of crimes or accused of many crimes.
Federal prosecutors made 61 requests to take over cases from Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams’ office last year, up from about 40 cases in 2021, said Assistant District Attorney Bob White, a liaison to federal prosecutors.
Williams welcomes the federal requests, White said.
“Federal agencies have much greater resources for investigation, location, and prosecution of suspects,” he said.
Evans said part of the decision includes considering whether someone is more likely to be jailed before trial in the federal or state system.
Claude Kelly, the federal public defender for the district, said the heavy volume of Orleans Parish cases going federal is a result of perceptions that “people won’t be prosecuted in Orleans Parish, or that judges won’t hold people in jail.” Federal weapons crimes also tend to carry stiffer sentences.
“I don’t recall ever seeing a year like this past one where such a high percentage of federal criminal filings are adoptions from state court,” Kelly said.
Nationally, federal gun prosecutions were down 11% last year. In the Eastern District, they were up 85%, in part a response to violence in New Orleans.
One issue is the increasing use of illegal devices that convert semiautomatic weapons into true machine guns. Kurt Thielhorn, special agent in charge in New Orleans for U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, called the rise in conversion devices “an enormous problem.” He echoed experts who say they’re prone to inaccurate sprays of bullets, at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute.
“Before, you might get six, seven rounds, or casings to retrieve,” he added. “Now, you’ve got shootings going off and there’s 30 or 40 casings on the ground.”
The lack of accuracy results in what Thielhorn called “spray and pray. They’re just spraying bullets hoping to hit their targets.”
Evans said his office may pursue 30-year minimum prison sentences under federal law for people caught using or carrying a machine gun.
Evans acknowledged that prosecuting more federal cases hasn’t reduced violence.
“The impact is minimal, if not nothing at all, due to the fact that fiscal year 2022, the murder rate went up,” he said. “We acknowledge that. But we are only one player. We by ourselves are not the solution.”
Minnesota
New charges against mom accused of killing 6-year-old son
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Upgraded murder charges have been filed against a Minnesota mom who is accused of fatally shooting her 6-year-old son and stashing his body in the trunk of her car last spring.
Julissa Thaler was already charged with second-degree murder in the May 20 death of Eli Hart. The suburban Minneapolis mom was indicted on a first-degree murder charge Friday. She is accused of shooting her son multiple times and then hiding his body in the trunk of her car shortly after she regained custody of him.
“The only surprise in this indictment is how long” it took the County Attorney’s Office to get one, Thaler’s public defender, Bryan Leary, said to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
He said prosecutors recently offered Thaler a plea agreement on the second-degree charge, but accepting that would have meant agreeing to a 40-year sentence. She hadn’t responded to that offer before Friday’s indictment.
Last May, Orono Police pulled Thaler over after she was spotted driving her car on a wheel rim and with a window smashed out. Search warrant documents filed in the case say officers who spoke with Thaler noticed blood on her face and hands, and what they suspected were human remains spattered on the inside of the vehicle.
She was arrested after officers found the boy’s body in the trunk.
A judge ruled in September that Thaler was competent to help in her own defense, and her trial is scheduled to start Jan. 30.
Hart’s father, Tory Hart, was trying to regain custody of his son at the time of his death. A judge had just restored Thaler’s custody of Eli 10 days before he died.
Tory Hart has also filed a lawsuit against Dakota County and three of its employees, accusing officials of ignoring signs that Eli wouldn’t be safe in Thaler’s care. He said in the lawsuit that Thaler has a history of substance abuse and hospitalization for mental illness that should have been a red flag.
Virginia
Panel quashes bill allowing murder charges for drug dealers
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Democrat-led Virginia Senate committee has voted down a bill that would have allowed prosecutors to charge drug dealers with second-degree murder if a user dies of an overdose.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin had thrown his support behind such a measure, highlighting it in a speech last week.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted the measure down on an 8-7 vote Monday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, after hearing from opponents who said it could discourage drug users from calling 911 if they see someone overdosing.
Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw broke with his fellow Democrats and voted to move the bill forward, according to the newspaper.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ryan McDougle, said the bill was needed because of a 2014 ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court that said “if a drug dealer sells the drugs and then leaves and the person overdoses, he can’t be charged.”
“How many deaths will it take for this measure to pass?” asked Robert Tracci, a senior assistant attorney general who told the committee that Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares supports the measure.
