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ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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T u e s d ay, M a r c h 10, 2026
$2.00X
2026 LEGISLATURE SESSION OPENS
Landry calls out ‘incompetent’ judges
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Davian Nicholas was playing basketball with neighborhood friends on Toria Avenue Sunday when he was killed by a stray bullet.
8-year-old killed by stray bullet in BR
4 arrested after fight escalated into shootout BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
hind bars. If they keep letting those people out, or they treat the juveniles like some sort of afterthought, guess what’s going to happen? Crime’s going to come back again. We don’t want to do that.” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams pushed back on Landry’s narrative, noting that crime has dropped sharply in recent years in New Orleans. “New Orleans is now in the midst of a historic, multiyear decline in homicides,” Williams’ office said in a statement. That does not satisfy Landry or Sen. Jay Morris, R-Monroe, who is sponsoring the two pieces of anti-crime
Eight-year-old Davian Nicholas was playing basketball with other kids at a neighborhood goal on a dead-end street Sunday evening when they heard gunfire. As they fled for home, Nicholas — who lived nearby on San Juan Drive — was hit by a stray bullet, a relative of the boy who asked not to be identified said Monday. “It was a matter of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the relative said. Nicholas was taken to a hospital but later died from his injuries, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Authorities said Monday that four men were arrested in the shootout that led to the killing. An overnight investigation revealed an argument involving the four escalated into a gunfight, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said in a statement. Jeremiah Scott, 21; Jeremiah Walter, known as “Meezy,” 25; Hunter Calligan, 22; and Everett Chambers, 21, were booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. Throughout Sunday, there were arguments between two separate armed groups, investigators said in arrest documents. Witnesses reported armed men were in front of a Laredo Drive house.
ä See LANDRY, page 4A
ä See KILLED, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE
Gov. Jeff Landry addresses members of the Legislature on the opening day of the 2026 regular legislative session at the State Capitol on Monday.
Governor touts changes during 54-minute legislative speech BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
Gov. Jeff Landry on Monday lambasted “incompetent” judges and called on lawmakers to hold them accountable as he recounted how a tourist in New Orleans was murdered in 2024 by a juvenile who he said was supposed to be under court supervision through an electronic ankle monitor because of previous crimes. Six family members of the slain tourist, Jacob Carter, stood in the visitor’s gallery overlooking the House chamber while state lawmakers rose to their feet and applauded in a show of respect. The emotionally charged moment came near the end of a 54-minute speech by Landry that kicked off the 2026 regu-
lar legislative session. Until that point, the governor mostly extolled the changes that he and Republican legislators have enacted during the past two years that have swung the state to the right. In a brief interview after the speech, Landry said he is supporting one piece of legislation that would reduce the number of judges in Orleans Parish and another that would allow him to remove judges and district attorneys throughout the state for up to six months. “It seems like the people of this state are getting tired of not having the proper oversight over out-of-control judges or DAs that are just not doing their job,” Landry said during the interview outside the House chamber. “As crime falls, it’ll only stay down if we take the dangerous people and we put them be-
CONFLICTT IN THEE MIDDLE EAST
Trump says war could be over soon INSIDE are disrupted by the Islamic Republic, Oil prices, markets which chose a new hard-line supreme ä New footage raises likelihood U.S. seesaw over uncertainty leader. Oil prices briefly shot to their high- struck Iranian school. Page 2A of conflict as Iran est level since 2022 a day after Iran ä Officials shaped by combat after selected Ayatollah Mojtaba Khame- 9/11 grapple with Iran war. Page 3A names new leader nei to succeed his late father as Iran’s ä Oil prices swing wildly as Iran war
BY JON GAMBRELL, WILL WEISSERT and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump said Monday that the war against Iran could be short-lived, but he left open the possibility of an escalation in fighting if global oil supplies
WEATHER HIGH 85 LOW 71 PAGE 8A
supreme leader. Investors saw it as a signal that Iran was digging in 10 days continues. Page 7A into the war launched by the United States and Israel. But prices later fell and U.S. stocks a short-term excursion,” Trump told rose on hopes that the war with Iran Republican lawmakers at his golf club near Miami. may not last much longer. Hours later, Trump posted on social “We took a little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil. ä See WAR, page 7A And, I think you’ll see it’s going to be
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By VAHID SALEMI
People rally Monday in Tehran, Iran, in support of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the successor to his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader.
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................6D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-5D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
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