Jefferson Parish murder trial stopped by judge after witnesses allege ...

?I am persuaded that the two witnesses ? were not lying when they indicated they felt threatened." Judge Ross LaDart of the 24th Judicial District

A state judge in Jefferson Parish shut down a murder trial Wednesday, in part because witnesses claimed they had been threatened. Jury selection was under way when Judge Ross LaDart of the 24th Judicial District Court granted the defense attorneys their request for the mistrial.

"I am persuaded that the two witnesses ... were not lying when they indicated they felt threatened," LaDart said after a closed-court hearing during which he heard testimony from several witnesses. "I cannot turn a blind eye to this motion" for a mistrial.

The attorneys expect to return to LaDart's court on Friday to select a new trial date for Adrian Williams, 30, of Gretna, and Jason Elliot, 26, of New Orleans, who are charged with second-degree murder in the Dec. 5, 2010, death of Carl Grant, 22.

Grant was shot outside the Cozy Kit bar in Gretna, where he was a mic master, or emcee. Gretna detectives said at the time the believed Grant was shot because of commentary inside the bar.

Elliot, who is accused of being the shooter, and Williams, an alleged principal to the homicide, await their trials in the parish jail in lieu of $750,000 bonds.

"I want to get it done," LaDart said of the trial. "I don't want these defendants sitting in jail because of these delays."

Neither Williams nor Elliot were in court during the hearing sought by Elliot's attorney Martin Regan and Williams' public defender Joe Perez, who raised allegations that their witnesses were threatened. Attorneys wrangled with the allegations throughout the morning as potential jurors were kept in a nearby courtroom waiting for jury selection to continue.

With the exception of Gretna and Jefferson Parish detectives who are investigating the allegations and a newspaper reporter, the public was kept out of the courtroom while LaDart heard testimony.

Assistant District Attorney Seth Shute opposed the mistrial, arguing that the witnesses claiming they were threatened gave conflicting testimony.

Jury selection began Tuesday, and only nine potential jurors were tentatively selected as of Wednesday afternoon. In considering the mistrial request, LaDart said attorneys on both side of the case still had peremptory strikes, or back strikes, suggesting a jury would not be seated soon. The trial was expected to last anywhere from three to seven days. That also was a factor LaDart considered in declaring the mistrial.

It was the second mistrial in as many days in a murder trial at the Jefferson Parish Courthouse.

On Tuesday, Judge Patrick McCabe declared a mistrial during jury selection for Darnell Turner's second-degree murder trial, largely because attorneys feared they'd run out of potential jurors before a jury could be seated in time for prosecutors to begin calling witnesses who were scheduled to leave town Wednesday.

Turner, 29, of Harvey is accused of helping kill Donald Bates, 53, a handy man who was beaten and shot to death in his Harvey home on Jan. 29, 2010.

Last week, Judge Robert Pitre of the 24th Judicial District Court declared a mistrial as prosecutors presented their evidence alleging Darion Jones, 21, of Metairie, killed Bobby Ray Lee in 2009.

Regan also is the defense attorney in that case and asked for the mistrial on grounds that he had not seen evidence prosecutors shared with him days earlier.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/judge_stops_jefferson_parish_m.html

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