Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
He wants office held in contempt of court
By Matt Scallan
The Times-Picayune
NEW ORLEANS, La. — An attorney for an inmate kept in jail without seeing a judge for six months filed a motion in 29th Judicial District Court on Wednesday to hold the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office in contempt of court for turning him over to New Orleans authorities instead of setting him free.
Orleans Parish inmate Irvin Brown, arrested on a cocaine possession charge in October, was in custody for six months without being given the chance to make bail. He was being held in the St. Charles Parish jail on behalf of the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office.
Judge Emile St. Pierre ordered Brown to be released on April 17, saying that Orleans Parish had failed to abide by statutes that require judges to set bond for prisoners within 72 hours of their arrest, not counting weekends or holidays.
Brown had been held in the state-run Hunt Correctional Facility in St. Gabriel until January, when he was transferred to the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility in Killona.
Brown was kept in jail because New Orleans authorities thought he also was being held on charges of attempted first-degree murder and looting, for which bond had already been set. Once Brown was returned to New Orleans, it was discovered that he never was booked with those charges and that the records had been mistakenly attached to his file after his booking.
Because of the snafu, Brown had no chance to post bond and be released, his attorney Victor Bradley of Norco said. Bradley filed the motion saying the Sheriff’s Office should be punished for turning Brown over to the New Orleans Police Department instead of releasing him immediately. St. Charles Sheriff Greg Champagne said the motion has no merit.
“This is much ado about nothing,” he said in a statement. “The inmate was released from our facility in accordance with the order from the judge. He was transported to Orleans Parish as per the Department of Corrections’ instructions that there were other pending charges in Orleans Parish. Those charges were not addressed in the habeas corpus hearing here. Our deputies kept Judge St. Pierre apprised of every step that was taken.”
St. Pierre said he is forbidden by judicial ethics rules from commenting on pending legal matters.
Brown pleaded guilty to the cocaine possession charge on April 20, and received a three-year suspended sentence and active probation.
The hearing date on Bradley’s motion had not been set on Wednesday.