Redstate

By Vladimir Posted in Law | The Big Easy — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

If not for the human tragedy involved, the dysfunctional mess of a city called New Orleans would be comical. [Emphasis added throughout.]

City unveils new weapons against parking scofflaws

The city has outfitted two parking-enforcement vans with cameras emitting yellow strobe lights that can scan both sides of the street, taking a digital image of license plates on parked cars and instantly checking the tag numbers against a database of vehicle owners with long-overdue parking fines.

[snip]

The innovations will help New Orleans enforce its parking ordinances and collect more revenue, officials say. Public Works Director Robert Mendoza said the new system will translate into $1 million more in parking fine collections each year, not counting the boot fees.

Parking can be a problem in the Big Easy. I'm just not convinced that it's the biggest problem.

...more...

In other news, the trial of David Bonds, who was accused of gunning down musician Dinerral Shavers in cold blood in December 2006, ended in acquittal:

Case bewilders a seasoned observer

I don't know why the first girl, the "key witness," stood up and said she couldn't identify the gunman she'd already told police about.

"I don't see anybody," said the teenage girl in a new dress, looking around the room without ever seeming to lock eyes on the barely 5-foot Bonds in the suit and tie. "I must need to go to the eye doctor."

I also don't know whether a juror saw Bonds make a threat while she testified. I only heard the man tell the judge that Bonds was "fidgeting" during the girl's time on the stand, and that at one point he rested his clean-shaven face in his hand by pantomiming a handgun with his index finger and thumb.

Then, this:

Death not linked to testimony, cops say

Police investigating the Thursday evening shooting of a 20-year-old man who last week testified in a high-profile murder trial have no evidence that Guy McEwen was killed because of his role as a witness, New Orleans Police Department officials said Friday.

McEwen was gunned down on an Uptown street and died among the more than 25 shell casings left on the street. But the Orleans Parish coroner's office on Friday indicated he was hit only once, in the head.

On Dec. 28, 2006, McEwen was sitting in the backseat of the car driven by popular musician Dinerral Shavers when Shavers was gunned down while trying to drive his stepson and McEwen away from a tense confrontation with a group of teenage boys in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

McEwen testified at last week's trial of David Bonds, 18, but said he did not see the man who twice fired a gun into the car. A jury acquitted Bonds by a 11-1 vote.

NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley said his detectives have a suspect and believe the shooting emanates, at least in part, from the neighborhood feuds that also surrounded the teenagers in Shavers' shooting.

Assistant Superintendent Marlon Defillo, who supervises the NOPD's investigative units, said McEwen's shooting might have been retaliatory, but not because of the Bonds trial.

Oh, well. That's comforting.