Daily Archives: June 22, 2012

Ryan Fitts

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

Sixteen years in prison for accidentally killing his friend may sound harsh, until you hear what he was doing at the time. In the case of Ryan Fitts, there are no winners, only losers.

As they came out of District Court, neither side was particularly happy. Ryan Fitts had just been given a sentence of 16 years for the negligent homicide of Kevin Schmick. Fitts, who had two previous DWI arrests, was going 95 miles per hour down Barnett Road. Barnett Road is a two lane roadway. When Fitts crashed his truck, it killed Kevin Schmick, who was a passenger. Schmick’s family had some strong words in court in front of Judge Lou Daniel.

“It’s been a tough three long years to get to this point,” said Kevin’s father Gary.”I was the voice for my son for three years, I’ve heard the voice in my head….’help me dad’…so all I could do was get justice for my son Kevin.

Keith Schmick lost his only brother. Friends and family comforted him after Kevin’s death. “We had a great family behind us…..this is hard. I’m glad it’s over.”

Kevin Schmick

An Orleans Parish judge sentenced 26-year-old Joseph Peters to 40 years in prison this week in the 2010 shooting death of a man in a wheelchair two years ago. Sedale Dorsey, 23, was gunned down in a hail of bullets in a drive-by shooting in the 2000 block of South Liberty Street.

A jury took about two hours last week to return a manslaughter verdict, rejecting the second-degree murder charge against Peters that Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office had sought. Criminal District Court Judge Laurie White sentenced Peters to the maximum sentence for manslaughter.

Police matched DNA from one of three guns used in the shooting, a Glock 17, to Peters.

new_orleans_man_gets_40_years

The Times-Picayune filed suit in Civil District Court Friday against Mayor Mitch Landrieu’sadministration for refusing to make public a complete police report about an incident that occurred April 19.

Reporter Brendan McCarthy requested the report on April 26. When the administration provided it on May 17, numerous parts of the report had been blacked out, including the location where the incident occurred and the name, race, gender, birth date, address, phone number and Social Security number of the victim. Police initially called the incident a theft, but the designation was later changed to an “signal 21,” meaning “lost or stolen property.

Incidents of lost or stolen property are not counted in the crime statistics the city reports to the federal government, and McCarthy sought to determine whether the incident had been improperly downgraded.

When McCarthy asked for an explanation of the redactions, the city attorney’s office responded that the location of the incident should not have been redacted, but that it was appropriate to black out the other items. The newspaper asserts in its lawsuit that “there is no legal exemption” that allows the city to redact any of that information.

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BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

Each blade of grass cut at Gilbert Cemetery is a small step toward closing a painful chapter in the cemetery’s history.

“They don’t even have a record that my child was buried here,” said Nikeria Payne.

Last October The Attorney General’s Office filed suit against the former caretaker Lymus Washington, who has yet to come forward.  They say he illegally and irresponsibly buried people here, losing track of where graves were and in some cases burying one corpse on top of another.

One of those lost graves is the infant son of Payne. She says her son was buried in 2004, but that a year later his headstone was gone, replaced by a marker of another grave.

“My son’s birthday just passed. I couldn’t even come and put flowers on his grave, because somebody else is on top of him,” said Payne.

cleanup-of-gilbert-cemetery-begins

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.

Regalado hurried the diners to finish up their salads and pre-cut chicken breasts, saying that the Secret Service required that there be no knives at the tables and that the forks be rounded up before Obama entered the room.

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Stick a fork in him, he’s done.

COLFAX, LA. – At the end of the month, sheriff’s departments across Cenla will have new faces around the office. In Grant Parish incumbent Stephen McCain is getting ready to take things over from Baxter Welch. News Channel Five’s Nolan Crane shows us the accomplishments that have been made during the past four years.

Although Baxter Welch lost his re-election bid he says he is very proud of the progress the Grant Parish sheriff’s office made. Stephen McCain says he is ready to do what the residents of grant parish put him in office to do.

Over the past four years Baxter Welch has sat in this seat–in this office, that displays his name as the Grant Parish Sheriff. He says he is happy with the job he did.

“We will leave the department roughly a million dollars more in cash reserves then we had, we’ve been able to put a car per each line officer, and computers in every car,” says Baxter Welch.

But he says a lot of the credit belongs to the men and women he’s worked with everyday these last 4 years.

grant-parish-sheriff-change

Steubenville South, a Catholic youth conference, is making its return to Alexandria and the Rapides Parish Coliseum this weekend.

The conference brings in thousands of high schoolers from across the South to Cenla for three days.

As News Channel Five’s Brooke Buford found out, Steubenville’s return may now be more important than ever, because of a decision that you’re going to make in November.

17-year-old Adrienne Prevost has been coming to Steubenville South conferences in Alexandria for three years now.

“The first time I came they said this is the largest out of all of the conferences,” said Prevost. ”I was like, in Alexandria, Louisiana? Are you serious?” she said.

The Catholic youth conference has been held in Alexandria for the last 18 years, and for 17 of those, it’s been held at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.

“The weekend is a weekend for young people to come and experience Christ in a new way,” said Christina Theriot, Coordinator of Steubenville South. ”It’s a three day Friday through Sunday where they come and spend the whole year fundraising to get to this conference and listen to speakers on different topics.”

steubenville-returns-to-coliseum

NEW ORLEANS - 

A man in women’s clothing is being sought after FBI agents and New Orleans police said he robbed a bank in Gentilly on Friday morning.

Investigators said an African-American man dressed as a woman entered the bank and presented a note to a teller, implying he had a weapon. After getting an undisclosed amount of cash, he fled on foot, crossing Elysian Fields Avenue heading toward St. Denis Street.

The robber was described by investigators as a black man, wearing a long black curly wig and sunglasses. He stood about 5 feet 9 inches tall and had a slim build, police said. He was last seen wearing a wide-striped gold and white long-sleeved sweater, dark tights and white sneakers accessorized with a tan purse.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 504-816-3000.

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MINDEN, LA (KSLA) -

Fire investigators say a piece of hot metal from a metal grinder caused a fire at a Minden school gymnasium.

“We do know the building was under construction, they were out here working,” said Minden Firefighter, Daniel Davison.

The entire building and it’s contents were destroyed in the fire.

Minden Mayor Bill Roberston says the firefighters were able to get the fire at the Glenbrook School gym under control but stayed at the scene putting out “hot spots.”

Robertson says the stand-alone gymnasium was destroyed in the blaze, which required mutual aid from several area fire departments to fight.

MINDEN, LA (KSLA) -

Minden Mayor Bill Roberston says the fire at Glenbrook School gym is now under control, but firefighters are still on the scene putting out “hot spots.”

Robertson says the stand-alone gymnasium was destroyed in the blaze, which required mutual aid from several area fire departments to fight.

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