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No new murder trial for men who shot Sandy Kaynor following his death, prosecutors say

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The three men already serving multiple-decade sentences in prison for a crime spree that included the shooting of attorney Sandy Kaynor in October of 2012 will not be tried again for murder now that he has died, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office announced Thursday afternoon. Three men — Charles “Mob Chuck” Carter, Devante “Tae Banger” Billy, and Byron “Wink” Johnson — were convicted in 2015 and 2016 for a series of crimes that included both shooting Kaynor in the driveway of his Camp Street home and the murder of UNO student Valan May. Billy pleaded guilty to 60 years, Johnson pleaded guilty to 45 years, and Carter was found guilty at trial and sentenced to life in prison plus 362 years. After Kaynor died in April, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro Jr. said he would wait until a ruling by the coroner on the cause of death before deciding whether to retry the defendants on murder charges. The coroner’s office announced that Kaynor’s death was due to complications from his gunshot wounds on Thursday morning, and by Thursday afternoon, prosecutors said Kaynor’s family did not want another trial.

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Coroner rules Sandy Kaynor’s death in April as a result of 2012 shooting

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The death of attorney Sanford Kaynor in April was the result of being shot six years earlier in his driveway, Orleans Parish Coroner Dwight McKenna announced late Thursday morning. Kaynor, 58, died April 19 due to “complications of remote gunshot wound” from the October 2012 shooting at his home on Camp Street near Delachaise, according to an announcement from McKenna’s office late Thursday morning. An attorney at Jones Walker, Kaynor was shot in the chest and back as he sat in his driveway, and struggled with complications from those injuries for years until he died in April. Three men — Byron “Poodieman” Johnson (20 at the time of the shooting), Devante “Tae Banger” Billy (18 in 2002) and Charles “Chuck” Carter Jr. (then 16) — were convicted on charges relating to Kaynor’s shooting. Johnson, pleaded guilty in 2015 to attempted murder and accepted a 45-year prison sentence; Billy pleaded guilty in May 2016 and was sentenced to 60 years; and Carter was found guilty at trial of attempted murder in January 2016 and sentenced to 362 years in prison.

city government

Fate of Louisiana’s criminal justice reform impacted by members’ term limits, representatives say

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Members of the New Orleans Coalition gathered Uptown Sunday afternoon to discuss the fate of – and the impact of – criminal justice reform legislation in Louisiana. Senator J.P. Morrell and Representative Royce Duplessis were on hand to recap the most recent legislative session and how each bill was successfully passed, as well as what issues will be front and center next year. Sarah Omojola, former Policy Counsel for Southern Poverty Law Center and current Director of the Welcoming Project, touched on the legislative process from an advocacy level. Mario Zervigon, of the Zervigon Consulting Group, moderated the panel. Both Morrell and Duplessis touched on how term limits will affect the new representatives’ learning curves, since the number of experiences legislators dwindle every year.

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Man indicted on murder charge in Hollygrove double shooting

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A 24-year-old man was indicted on a murder charge this week in connection with a March shooting inside a Hollygrove home that wounded one man and injured another, New Orleans court officials said. Joshua V. Brown Sr., 24, is charged with the second-degree murder of Calvin Powell, also 24, and the attempted second-degree murder of a 23-year-old man who was injured in the March 16 shooting in a home in the 8800 Stroelitz Street. Brown fatally shot Powell during a fight, and the other man was injured trying to break up the altercation, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. Brown then drove the wounded man to the hospital so they could both be treated for their injuries, and police found Powell dead inside the home where the shooting took place, prosecutors said. Criminal District Court Judge Robin Pittman raised Brown’s bond from $100,000 to $1.5 million following Thursday’s indictment.

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Baton Rouge businessman indicted on murder charge in beating death of 60-year-old man on St. Charles Avenue

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A real-estate agent from Baton Rouge was indicted Thursday on a murder charge in the beating death of a 60-year-old man on St. Charles Avenue, Orleans Parish prosecutors said. Garrett Ward, 25, will face a charge of second-degree murder in the Jan. 6 death of 60-year-old Arnold Jackson, nearly two weeks after Ward allegedly attacked Jackson while the older man walked down St. Charles Avenue “minding his own business,” prosecutors said.

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Suspect pleads guilty to 2017 spree of university-area home invasions

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A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to multiple robbery and drug charges in connection with a spree of home invasions last year on Broadway, Pine and Zimpel streets, New Orleans prosecutors said. As his trial was scheduled to begin on Monday (May 14), Jeremy Magee pleaded guilty as charged to six counts of armed robbery with a firearm, four counts of aggravated battery and several drug charges, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. Magee now faces a sentence of between 15 and 25 years in prison, which will be decided Aug. 14 by Criminal District Judge Darryl Derbigny. Magee has four co-defendants — Reggie Parkerinson, James King, Kevin Callens Jr. and Angel Foy — whose cases are still pending, Cannizzaro’s office said.

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Motorcyclist found guilty of vehicular homicide in drunken crash that killed teacher in Gert Town

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A motorcyclist who crashed into a canal near Xavier University in 2016, killing the school teacher riding as his passenger, was found guilty Thursday night of vehicular homicide, and now faces up to 10 years in prison, court officials said. Matthew Magrini, 35, was driving a motorcycle with 28-year-old George Paitich as his passenger on March 12, 2016, when they struck a curb on Washington Avenue near Broadway Street, sending the motorcycle crashing into a light pole and both men into the canal, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. Investigators later determined that the motorcycle was speeding at 60 mph, and Magrini’s blood-alcohol content tested at .232 after the crash, nearly three times the legal limit of .08. Paitich — a Teach for America teacher from St. Paul, Minn., assigned to the second grade at Arthur Ashe Charter School — was found face down in the water of the canal with a severe head injury, and he was pronounced dead at upon arrival at the hospital.

court

Lamborghini driver pleads guilty to vehicular homicide in crash that killed passenger

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The man who drove a Lamborghini at speeds well over 100 mph through Uptown New Orleans before crashing into floodwall and killing his passenger two years ago pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide on Monday, and may now face a decade or more in prison. Jason Adams, 32, was driving with 23-year-old Kristi Lirette on May 4, 2016, when he crashed the car, and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.11 afterward (above the legal limit of 0.08), said District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. “New Orleans police investigators estimated the car driven by Adams reached speeds as high as 118 mph before striking a curb and careening into a floodwall in Uptown New Orleans,” prosecutors said. Adams pleaded guilty Monday and faces between 5 and 30 years on the vehicular homicide charge. Criminal District Judge Robin Pittman has said that Lirette’s family has agreed to a sentence of 10 years in prison, 5 years of which will be suspended, with three years of probation after release, prosecutors said.

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Prosecutors wait for coroner’s ruling on Kaynor death before considering murder charges

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Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon A. Cannizzaro Jr. will wait until he receives an official ruling on Sandy Kaynor’s cause of death before considering whether to retry his attackers on murder charges, he said. Kaynor, an attorney at Jones Walker, was shot in the chest and back as he sat in his driveway of his Camp Street home in October 2012, and struggled with complications from those injuries for years until he died this week at age 58. While the initial police report on his death says that Kaynor succumbed to the damage from the gunshot wounds, Orleans Parish Coroner Jeffrey Rouse has yet to issue a formal ruling on his cause of death. Three men have been convicted on charges relating to Kaynor’s death and are serving multi-decade sentences. Retrying them on a murder charge now that Kaynor has died is an option that prosecutors could pursue, but they said Cannizzaro said Thursday that to make any decision prior to Rouse’s ruling would be “premature.”

court

Newman graduate sentenced to probation, $4,800 in restitution for 2016 vandalism

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A graduate of the Isidore Newman School has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from multiple vandalism incidents in 2016 — including a threat to “kill you all” at his alma mater and an anti-religious message at St. George’s school — and will be sentenced to probation and restitution of nearly $5,000, prosecutors announced. Peter Curtis, 21, was arrested in August 2016 in connection with a rash of at least seven graffiti incidents around the Uptown area, including the threat on the wall of the Newman school on Jefferson Avenue that resulted in school being closed. On Friday, March 23, Curtis pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of “criminal damage to property by defacing with grafitti,” which were reduced from the felony charges of criminal damage to property greater than $500. For more details, see the news release from District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office below:

Criminal District Judge Arthur Hunter approved the misdemeanor plea agreement as a proper outcome for the case.