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Jail releases significantly down

Section: Community

Laura Maggi

Better cooperation and communication between the Orleans Parish district attorney's office and city police significantly reduced the number of defendants automatically released from jail because prosecutors had failed to decide whether to charge them, city officials said Thursday.

Six suspects left jail on so-called "701 releases" in December, compared with a high of 580 in January 2007, acting District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson said.

Former District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who resigned in October, took biting criticism because of the 701 releases, named for a section of the criminal code. State law requires prosecutors to charge or refuse cases within 60 days of a felony arrest, or release the person.

In the first six months of last year, about 2,446 defendants got out of jail on 701s.

Although the district attorney's office took most of the heat for those releases, the releases also exposed faulty practices at the New Orleans Police Department, where many officers neglected to get their reports to the district attorney's office quickly. Further, diminished capabilities at the NOPD crime lab prevented timely tests of seized narcotics.

Landrum-Johnson and NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley said at a news conference that their two agencies have taken steps to work together to prevent needless releases. Riley and Jordan first outlined the steps in March, when both signed off on a 10-point plan to improve cooperation.

Although Riley and Jordan worked together on that plan, clear friction between the leaders quickly emerged and hampered the efforts. Riley deflected questions about whether Jordan became an obstacle to improved relations, but made a point of praising Landrum-Johnson's previous work as head of the screening division, saying clear improvements were made under her leadership.

"We are happy with cooperation with the DA's office," Riley said.

NOPD officers are now field testing special kits to get a preliminary evaluation of whether substances confiscated are actually narcotics, which usually is enough for the district attorney to decide whether to charge a person arrested in a drug-related crime. The district attorney also provides the police with lists of all cases that are 30 and 45 days from the arrest date and still lack police reports.

"We fully believe we have corrected those things," Riley said.

The crime lab is now going back over the older, mostly drug-related cases that resulted in 701 releases, Riley said. Cases where seized drugs turn up positive will possibly result in the DA pressing charges, Landrum-Johnson said.

Riley and Landrum also cited improvements from an expedited screening process that puts prosecutors in direct contact with detectives on some violent-crime arrests and allows the DA's office to quickly contact victims and witnesses to beef up cases.

"An officer completes the report and meets with someone within five days of an arrest," Landrum-Johnson said.

The two agencies also now assign "duty prosecutors," available to NOPD officers at any time to answer questions about their investigations, and require conferences between officers and prosecutors before trials and court hearings.

Robert Stellingworth, executive director of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, said the district attorney's office and the Police Department are now working together to build a more substantial witness assistance program, which will be able to relocate witnesses who are hesitant to testify for fear of retaliation.

While the district attorney's office previously had a program to help witnesses, the city will now receive $10,000 monthly in federal funds from the state for this purpose, Stellingworth said.

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