Press Releases

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Aug. 15) secured a murder indictment against a man accused of a February 2019 fatal shooting at a homeless encampment beneath a downtown New Orleans freeway overpass. Waldale Stanley, also known as Malik Touray, was charged with the second-degree murder of 51-year-old Philip Thomas in the indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Aug. 15) secured an indictment against two gunmen alleged to be responsible for a May 2019 double-shooting in Algiers that left one man dead and another injured. Pictured above from left, Shayne Davis and Cornelius “Scooter” Ross each was charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the indictment handed up by…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Monday (Aug. 12) secured the guilty plea of a New Orleans woman who fatally shot another woman three years ago outside a home in the Treme neighborhood. Roycelyn Young averted her murder trial scheduled to start Monday by pleading guilty to an amended charge of manslaughter for the killing of 24-year-old Erica Davis on…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Monday (Aug. 12) secured a guilty plea from a gunman who fatally shot another man at a central New Orleans apartment building in 2016. Jermaine Reynolds Jr. averted a murder trial scheduled to begin Monday by entering into a plea agreement before Criminal District Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson. Under terms of the agreement approved by…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Monday (Aug. 12) secured the guilty plea of a Little Woods man who sexually assaulted two juveniles over a period of several years. Ricky Hookfin, also known as Rickey Hookfin, averted a trial scheduled for Sept. 16 when he entered into a plea agreement before Criminal District Judge Franz Zibilich that saw him sentenced…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office early Thursday (Aug. 8) secured the conviction of a New Orleans man who surreptitiously recorded extensive video of a juvenile girl sometimes in his care while she was undressed in a private bathroom. An Orleans Parish jury deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before returning its verdict at 12:08 a.m. The panel found Nathaniel O. Robinson…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Wednesday (Aug. 7) announced it secured a guilty plea and 12-year prison sentence for an habitual New Orleans serial burglar who broke into nearly a dozen vehicles and businesses during his latest crime spree this past spring. Julius Benjamin, 53, pleaded guilty as charged Tuesday to 11 counts of simple burglary outlined in two…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Wednesday (Aug. 7) announced it secured guilty pleas and prison sentences for three men involved in a New Orleans East double-shooting that left one teen dead and a 4-year-old boy wounded in 2015. Pictured above from left, 22-year-olds Joseph Dixon, Damond Jackson and Sterling Lewis entered into a plea agreement before Criminal District Judge…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Wednesday (Aug. 7) secured a guilty plea and anticipates a 10-year prison sentence for a man who killed a friend two years ago while staying as a guest in the victim’s Irish Channel home. Charles E. Jones, 62, averted a scheduled murder trial by pleading guilty to an amended charge of manslaughter in connection…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro on Thursday (Aug. 1) announced his office has secured a special grand jury indictment charging four New Orleans men with violating the Louisiana Racketeering Act. The defendants are charged in a 26-count indictment with running a criminal gang enterprise involving auto burglaries, carjackings, shootings and armed robberies across New Orleans in the past 18 months. “These…