More gun trials are starting in federal court in New Orleans than at any time in at least 15 years, a review by The Times-Picayune found.
Prosecutors from the 13 parishes in the Eastern District of Louisiana filed about 70 new cases last year in which the primary charge was a firearms offense, according to data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which maintains data on federal prosecutions. That’s the most since 2007, when the federal government stepped in to fill a void after Hurricane Katrina.
Vehicle theft was the top charge in at least eight federal trials in the past two years in the Eastern District, after none for four years, TRAC data shows.
Acting U.S. Attorney Duane Evans told The Times-Picayune that he has set out in 2021 to increase prosecutions of the “worst of the worst,” including people repeatedly charged with crimes or charged with many crimes.
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Federal prosecutors made 61 requests to take on cases from Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams’ office last year, up from 40 cases in 2021, said Assistant District Attorney Bob White, liaison with federal prosecutors.
Williams welcomes federal applications, White said.
“Federal agencies have much greater resources to investigate, locate and prosecute suspects,” he said.
Evans said part of the decision includes considering whether someone is more likely to be jailed before trial in the federal or state system.
Firearms crimes have been viewed as the top charge in New Orleans, Louisiana. For nearly the past two years, vehicle theft has been the leading charge in the state.
Claude Kelly, the district’s federal public defender, said the high volume of Orleans Parish cases turning federal is a result of the perception that “people will not be prosecuted in Orleans Parish, or that Judges won’t keep people in jail.” Federal gun crimes also tend to carry harsher sentences.
“I don’t recall ever seeing a year like this where such a high percentage of federal criminal complaints are state court adoptions,” Kelly said.
Nationwide, federal firearms prosecutions were down 11% last year. In the Eastern District, they increased by 85%, partly in response to the violence in New Orleans.
One problem is the increasing use of illegal devices that turn semi-automatic weapons into full-blown machine guns. Kurt Thielhorn, special agent in charge in New Orleans for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, called the rise of conversion devices “a huge problem.” He echoed experts who say they are prone to firing inaccurate bursts of bullets, at rates of several hundred rounds per minute.
“Before, you could get six, seven rounds or casings to recover,” he added. “Now, there are shots and there are 30 or 40 casings on the ground.”
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The lack of precision results in what Thielhorn called “spray and pray. They’re just shooting bullets hoping to hit their targets.”
Evans said his office can impose minimum prison sentences of 30 years under federal law for people caught using or carrying a machine gun.
Evans acknowledged that processing more federal cases has not reduced the violence.
“The impact is minimal, if not zero, due to the fact that in fiscal year 2022, the murder rate increased,” he said. “We recognize it. But we are only a player. We alone are not the solution.”
