Press Releases

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday secured an indictment against a man accused of raping a woman inside a New Orleans East home in October 2019. Raymond Pittman was charged with first-degree rape in the indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Pittman, 50, faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if convicted as charged. The 24-year-old victim…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Dec. 3) secured a murder indictment against a 7th Ward woman accused of fatally shooting her domestic partner in July. Lynshell Davis was charged with obstructing justice in a homicide investigation and with the second-degree murder of 29-year-old Frederick Davis. She faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if convicted of the murder, and…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Oct. 22) secured a murder indictment against a New Orleans man suspected of killing another man shot during a street fight in Gert Town. David Reeder was charged with the second-degree murder of 54-year-old Cleve Baham as part of a three-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Reeder, 35, faces…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Oct. 22) secured a murder indictment against an Algiers man accused of a fatal shooting outside an apartment complex three months ago. James “Fatman” Green was charged with the second-degree murder of 34-year-old Jeffery Darensbourg in a four-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. The panel also charged Green with…

An Orleans Parish grand jury decided Thursday (Oct. 22) that a New Orleans East man should face charges of negligent homicide and obstruction of justice in connection with a gunplay incident that left a fellow college student dead last November, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office announced. Andrew Gant last year confessed to fatally shooting 19-year-old Jace Scott inside a business…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Oct. 22) secured a murder indictment against a New Orleans East man accused of fatally shooting his father at their family home in July. Darnell “D.J.” Hamilton was charged with the second-degree murder of 60-year-old Rhett Hamilton (pictured at left) in the seven-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. The…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Oct. 22) secured a murder indictment against a woman accused of fatally stabbing her elderly mother two months ago in her St. Claude home. Wanda Ledet was charged with the first-degree murder of 87-year-old Helen Van Buren (pictured at left), and with resisting a police officer, in the two-count indictment handed up by…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Oct. 22) announced it secured a murder indictment against a man accused of fatally shooting another man at a New Orleans East playground in August. Dwight Sparrow was charged with the second-degree murder of 33-year-old Benny Roberts in the three-count indictment handed up Sept. 10 by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Sparrow also…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (Oct. 8) secured an indictment against a man linked by DNA results to the 1975 sexual assault of a Tulane University student who was raped at gunpoint in her Uptown New Orleans apartment. Ronald Craig was charged with one count each of aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping in the two-count indictment handed up…

Members of a joint New Orleans task force of cold-case rape prosecutors and investigators were honored Thursday (Oct. 1) at District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office, where they received the prestigious 2020 Excellence In Law Enforcement award from the Metropolitan Crime Commission. MCC President Rafael Goyeneche presented the awards to members of the SAKI units (Sexual Assault Kit Initiative) of the…