By Deon Roberts, Online Editor
It looks like the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office is not the only arm of the city’s criminal justice system in need of serious improvement.
Today, our attention is focused on the city’s Criminal Sheriff’s Office, which has accidentally released a man implicated in an October armed robbery and also once considered a suspect in the fatal shooting of a city police officer.
The man, Elton Phillips, is the same guy made famous for reportedly fleeing in October to the home of then-District Attorney Eddie Jordan following an armed robbery. Phillips is a suspect in that armed robbery, which took place at an Algiers gas station. Shortly after the crime, Phillips, who knew Jordan’s girlfriend, sought refuge at Jordan’s home.
Police charged Phillips with armed robbery for the Algiers crime. Police had also named him a suspect in the home invasion and killing case of NOPD officer Thelonious Dukes. But Phillips was never charged in the Dukes case and today police said he is no longer a suspect in that case, according to The Associated Press.
Now, Phillips is free.
Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s office released Phillips on Dec. 21. Apparently, Gusman’s office interpreted paperwork from the DA’s office to mean that Phillips could be released. Basically, a man named a suspect in two serious crimes was release from Orleans Parish prison because of paperwork confusion. WDSU-TV reports that Phillips’ mother says her son will surrender.
This ordeal is downright frightening. It is certainly not comforting to know that the Criminal Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office have different interpretations for forms that authorize or prohibit a prisoner’s release.
It makes me wonder whether this has happened before. How many suspects have been released by the criminal sheriff because paperwork was wrongly interpreted?
Don’t the DA’s and criminal sheriff’s offices communicate with each other? Phillips’ name has been in the news a lot. At the least, somebody at Gusman’s office should have recognized Phillips’ name and the following phone call should have taken place:
Gusman’s office: “Uh, do you guys know that you are asking us to release Phillips? You know, that suspect in that Algiers armed robbery case? I don’t remember hearing that he’s been cleared. Is this right?”
DA’s office: “Oh! Thanks for calling. No, do not release him. Sorry about the paperwork confusion.”
Gusman’s office: “No problem. Just checking. Sorry to bug you.”
Now, was that so hard?
This ordeal could easily be material for the makers of “K-Ville.”
I wonder if anyone will be fired over this.
Here are some links:
http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/UpToTheMinute.cfm?recID=14607
http://www.wdsu.com/news/14928374/detail.html
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2007/12/man_who_fled_to_home_of_da_rel.html
2 responses so far ↓
ScottRandolph // Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 4:42 pm |
This whole scenario is so pathetic, and unfortunately has become all too commonplace. It just goes to show the level of apathy that permeates New Orleans from the most insignificant jobs to the most important. To make matters worse (if the release of a murderer/armed robber/cop-killer were not bad enough), we have to bear the brunt of yet another embarrassing story for the national news media to lambast us with.
The criminal defense attorney for this guy seems to think that just because his client turned himself in the first time that he has no reason to run now. Well then, if that were the case, why didn’t he just stay in jail to begin with? Better yet, why not mention to the clerk that there was obviously some sort of mistake? As if!. Methinks that once a person sits in jail for a few days while awaiting trial, he/she begins to think just a little bit differently about spending a whole lot of time there…
Also, just as embarrassing (and disheartening) was the response from the investigators of NOPD Officer Thelonious Duke’s murder case. They basically brushed it off, saying that they had, for the most part, cleared this scumbag (can I say that on national newspaper?) of involvement in the murder anyway and that they now had two other ‘real’ suspects in custody now (!).
When are we going to stop accepting this level of protection from our municipal and government employees? Poor service at the fast-food drive-thru is one thing. At our jailhouse is quite another.
ChrisMcCrory // Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 9:00 pm |
Really, the Sheriff’s office has one of three real explanations:
1. We saw that there was conflicting information on the form, so we decided to release him.
2. We want to do anything and everything we can to discredit the DA’s office, even though Eddie Jordan has gone.
3. We are completely incompetent.
Pick one.