Press Releases

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (June 27) secured a murder indictment against a 16-year-old juvenile accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old boy in Hollygrove in February. Latrell Alexis (aka Alexis Latrell) was charged with the second-degree murder of JaMichael Frith in the indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. If convicted of the murder, Alexis would…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (June 27) announced that a Mississippi man already being held without bond is facing a third rape charge after a fourth woman alleged being attacked by the defendant. William McDonough, 46, was charged late Wednesday with second-degree rape and violation of a protective order after an Orleans Parish special grand jury heard the…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office late Wednesday (June 26) secured a superseding special grand jury indictment charging four New Orleans youths with violating the Louisiana Racketeering Act. The new indictment handed up by the Orleans Parish special grand jury charges (pictured above, from left) 20-year-old Joshua Augillard, 18-year-old Reginald Blanton and 19-year-old Corey Harris, along with 16-year-old Ladonte Richardson (not…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office announced Wednesday (June 26) that it has asked the Louisiana Attorney General’s office to investigate and manage the prosecution of Ashley Crawford for the unauthorized practice of law and related offenses. The Louisiana Supreme Court on June 21 forwarded a complaint to Cannizzaro’s office, along with compelling evidence of criminal wrongdoing, alleging that Crawford has…

DA Leon Cannizzaro statement on Ashley Crawford “Our office has been made aware by the Louisiana Supreme Court that Ms. Ashley Crawford of the Orleans Public Defenders office has been falsely portraying herself as a licensed attorney in Louisiana. Practicing law without a license, as Ms. Crawford appears to have done on more than 100 cases across all 12 sections…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Friday (June 21) secured the guilty plea of a New Orleans man who shot another driver during a road-rage incident on the Pontchartrain Expressway last October. Devin Raymond entered into a plea agreement that saw him plead guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. Raymond, 23, is expected to receive…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Friday (June 21) secured the guilty plea of a New Orleans man charged last month with eight crimes, including three Gentilly-area carjackings committed over the past 13 months. At a hearing scheduled to argue bond reduction and other pretrial motions, Kentrell Lockett instead rendered the pending matters moot by pleading guilty as charged to…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Thursday (June 20) announced it has secured a special grand jury indictment charging four New Orleans youth with participating in a murderous conspiracy that left a teenage girl dead and four people injured within an 11-day span in March. The indictment handed up Wednesday charges (pictured above, from left) 20-year-old Joshua Augillard, 18-year-old Reginald…

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Tuesday (June 18) secured the guilty plea of a Mississippi man who raped his former girlfriend at her place of work in New Orleans East in January 2017. Phillip W. Martin of Jayess, Miss., averted his scheduled trial Tuesday by pleading guilty as charged to second-degree rape. Under terms of a plea agreement approved…

Richard Sansbury, the first of two men arrested for Monday’s armed robbery and shootout that left a New Orleans police officer wounded at an Uptown CVS drug store, made his first appearance in Orleans Parish Magistrate Court on Tuesday morning (June 18). As part of his first appearance, the court’s Pretrial Services Program issued its PSA (Public Safety Assessment) of…