A man from Tennessee who was arrested in New Orleans for carrying a modified machine gun along the city’s famous Bourbon Street has had his case dropped by a woke prosecutor from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office.
Keaton Manghave, is among 15 people who were arrested in the Crescent City during Mardi Gras this past week, and who had their charges dropped.Â
The decision to drop the cases was made by Assistant District Attorney Emily Maw.Â
Maw, who now heads the Civil Rights unit, previously worked for Innocence Project New Orleans for 16 years before transferring to the DA’s office two years ago. Â
She refused to proceed with the charges on conditions that the weapons seized from those arrested not be returned to them, according to Fox8Live.
15 people who were arrested in the Crescent City during Mardi Gras this past week had their cases and weapons charges dropped
New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams, right, said assistant prosecutor Emily Maw, left, wrongly decided to drop the prosecution of more than a dozen illegal gun possession cases arising from Mardi Gras season arrests in exchange for the suspects’ agreeing to forfeit their weapons
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams saw Maw wrongly decided to drop the prosecution of more than a dozen illegal gun possession cases arising from Mardi Gras season arrests in exchange for the suspects’ agreeing to forfeit their weapons
Manghave in particular had been charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and illegal carrying of weapons.Â
Officers saw Manghave walking around with a gun and later discovered that the gun had been converted into a fully automatic weapon.
Despite the egregious nature of the alleged crimes, Maw refused to prosecute the case along with along with 14 others. Â
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams has since distanced himself from the decision calling the attorney’s actions ‘improper and unrepresentative of office policy.’Â
Williams has pledged to conduct an internal review and take appropriate measures to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.Â
In a statement released Thursday, Williams said Maw, who was assigned to review the cases during first appearances on Tuesday in magistrate court, deviated from the office’s standard practices, which include a ‘thorough screening process’ for every charge.
It was not immediately clear whether authorities could choose to renew prosecution of the suspects.Â
Despite the egregious nature of the alleged crimes, Maw refused to prosecute the case along with along with 14 others
New Orleans Police Department Detective Louis Martinez Jr., next to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, interim NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork, Col. Lamar Davis of the Louisiana State Police, right, along with other members of law enforcement, NOFD and EMS walk down Bourbon Street just after midnight ceremoniously closing down Mardi Gras
Police work the scene of a shooting at the Krewe of Bacchus parade last Sunday. Five people were shot, including a young girl, during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, police said
The statement said Williams had ordered ‘an extensive internal review’ of the cases and that his office was taking ‘appropriate remedial measures to prevent similar unauthorized activity in the future.’
The decisions made by Maw, who was a close ally of Williams in his campaign to bring a reforms to the district attorney’s office, were seized on by Williams’ critics, who have since questioned the results of his progressive policies amid a surge in violent crime which has seen New Orleans become the murder capital of the US.
The former director of Innocence Project New Orleans, Maw, who was educated in Edinburgh had been a longtime advocate for wrongfully incarcerated people before she was brought into the DA’s office by Williams in 2021 to head his office’s newly created civil rights division.
Her office had been tasked with digging into cold cases, reducing sentences handed down by non-unanimous juries and reversing wrongful convictions.
Her appointment was among a number of moves made by Williams that aligned with his progressive philosophy on the criminal justice system, but as the numbers of murders, carjackings and violent carjackings have increased in the last two years, Williams has pedaled back on some policies including a promise not to charge juveniles as adults.
Crimes based on year-to-date show 2023 to be even worse than 2022
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