At least two guilty pleas related to the federal bribery probe of District Attorney Mike Harson’s office’s handling of OWIs and other criminal cases were postponed this week, according to sources close to the investigation.
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| According to this screen shot, captured early Tuesday morning, DA Mike Harson's longtime office administrator, Barna Haynes, was scheduled to plead guilty Monday in the ongoing federal bribery investigation into the office's handling of OWIs and other cases. Haynes' name was removed from the schedule Tuesday after IND Monthly inquired about the guilty plea; our sources say another secretary in the DA's office, Denease Curry, was scheduled to plead guilty this week as well. Her name did not appear on the schedule. Our sources say both pleas were postponed. |
IND Monthly confirmed and reported Tuesday that Harson’s longtime office administrator, Barna Haynes, was scheduled to plead guilty to an undisclosed charge Monday and has since learned that Assistant District Attorney Greg Williams’ secretary, Denease Curry, will also enter a guilty plea.
Haynes and Williams, along with private investigator Robert Williamson, are all believed to be targets of the bribery investigation. The feds searched the offices of Haynes and Williams and the home of Williamson on Feb. 27 of last year.
Sources tell IND Monthly Curry planned to resign this week and didn’t intend to be at work, but when her guilty plea was postponed — it’s unclear why the feds delayed the matter — she returned to work.
The IND spoke by phone with Curry at the DA’s office Thursday morning about whether she had resigned or would be resigning as result of the investigation. “If I answered the phone I must still be employed,” she says. “That’s all I’m going to say.” She then hung up the phone.
Curry’s boss, Williams, is also expected to cop a plea. Williams handles the office’s traffic cases; OWI prosecutions are believed to be the main focus of the investigation though not the only types of cases the feds have been looking into.
The DA’s office closed early Thursday due to heavy rains, and IND Monthly was unable to reach Williams for comment.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley's office sent target letters to an undisclosed number of people, including local attorneys, in October, offering the opportunity to plead guilty to a single count bill of information rather than face grand jury indictment (IND Monthly has since learned that at least one letter was rescinded and that person will not be charged). Typically, only felony charges are brought before a grand jury, so it's likely those accepting the deal would be charged with a felony in the bill of information. If that's the deal offered to local attorneys like Williams, it is highly likely the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board would recommend disbarment.
Citing sources, IND Monthly reported Jan. 2 that attorney Luke Edwards was among those who received a target letter. Edwards did not respond to requests for comment.
IND Monthly's sources say the guilty pleas will be entered next week.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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