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Slowmoving courts trap defendants in limbo Chronic delays can mean yearslong wait for those seeking a trial
BY JILLIAN KRAMER Staff writer STAFF PHOTOS By BRETT DUKE
Judge Lionel R. Collins Elementary School assistant principal Jennifer Dykes looks over students working in a fourth grade math class at the school in Marrero on Wednesday.
A chance to shine
State’s new grading system rewards schools for student growth BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer
Principal Jenenne Coulon was observing a teacher’s lesson last month when text messages came pouring in. School grades had been released. For Louisiana educators, the annual school ratings can inspire delight or dread — a year’s worth of grueling work condensed to a single A-F grade, which the public often sees as shorthand for whether a given school is “good” or “bad.” This year was especially nerve-wracking as the state issued, in addition to schools’ official grades, simulated scores based on a tougher rating system that takes effect next year.
100 students from two shuttered campuses. But this year, things drastically improved: Not only did Collins land on the state’s list of top-growing schools, boosting its official rating to a C, but its simulated grade was a B — the highest in Coulon’s decade leading the school. She shrieked and cried, then collected herself before making a schoolwide announcement. Finally, the grade reflected the school Judge Lionel R. Collins Elementary Principal Jenenne she knows, where educaCoulon walks with second grader Indie Girard at the tors strive with each lesschool in Marrero on Wednesday. son, tutoring session and pep talk to push students Coulon ran back to her where about 90% of stu- steadily forward. “I felt vindicated,” Couoffice at Judge Lionel R. dents are economically Collins Elementary School disadvantaged, had seen lon said. “We work so hard and pulled up the grades. its rating fall to a D last The Marrero school, year after taking in about ä See SCHOOLS, page 10A
Chronic delays resolving murder cases inside New Orleans’ dysfunctional court have left hundreds of defendants trapped for years, caught in an excruciating limbo between guilt and innocence that some never escape. Court records show the extremes and their devastating consequenc- LONGING FOR es. A man who spent seven years JUSTICE behind bars, only to be acquitted in Last in minutes. a series A woman who has appeared in court more than 100 times, without ä See the ever facing a jury. A man who has never held his complete 9-year-old daughter, born after his series. arrest, as his case remains unreGO TO NOLA.COM solved. In some instances, records show, defendants have died before their cases close in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. Christopher Patterson was one of them. He succumbed to cancer on May 16, 2023, more than five years and 80 court hearings after he was charged in a fatal shootout in Gentilly. He was 52. Shortly after his 2018 arrest, family members sent handwritten letters to the court, asking a commissioner to reduce his bail so that he could come home.
ä See LIMBO, page 12A
Tiny earbones in fish unlock their secret lives Scientists seek anglers’ contribution to study population
BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
It’s a moment that can spark dread among even the most scrupulously law-
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looking to confiscate your catch. They only want your fish’s earbones. It’s not some ritual described in a Dr. John song. The earbones, or otoliths, collected through a quick slice to the head, have revealed a wealth of information on the secret lives of fish to marine biologists, especially age. That info is then used to help determine the health of fish
ä See EARBONES, page 9A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
An inmate looks out from a recreational area of a cellblock at the Orleans Parish Justice Center in New Orleans.
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abiding Louisiana fishermen. As you return to the dock after a fine day on the water, solemnly serious men or women in state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries T-shirts approach. The initial, slightly paranoid thought for many anglers: Yikes, did I mismeasure a speckled trout and accidentally keep one slightly under the 13-inch limit? But no reason to worry in this case. The Wildlife and Fisheries gang isn’t
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