Louisiana may drop remnant of Jim Crow, former JP lawman sentenced, drowned child lived in deplorable conditions: Your morning briefing

April 05--Click here to sign up for the New Orleans morning roundup!

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Stunning vote in the Senate

State lawmakers, led by Sen. JP Morrell of New Orleans, advanced a bill Wednesday that amounts to the most serious challenge in nearly a half-century to a state law that allows for convictions in serious felony cases without unanimous juries.

The law originated in the Jim Crow era, giving mostly white juries the ability to convict defendants for serious crimes over the objections of a few black jurors, who couldn't be entirely excluded because that would run afoul of the 14th and 15th amendments. It survived in a slightly altered form when lawmakers drafted the state's existing state constitution in the 1970s, allowing for guilty verdicts to stand with the votes of only 10 of 12 jurors.

After impassioned remarks by Morrell and others on Wednesday -- incidentally the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination -- the state Senate passed a bill that would set up a referendum on whether to require unanimous juries in all cases. It still needs to clear the more conservative House, and since it's an amendment to the state constitution it needs a super-majority of two thirds from both chambers.

A year-long Advocate investigation published Sunday revealed that 10-2 jury verdicts continue to hit the state's black population disproportionately. Black defendants are 30 percent more likely than white defendants to be sent to prison over the objections of one or two members of the jury.

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Craig Taffaro won't go to prison

The former No. 2 at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, back when Newell Normand was in charge, will serve five years probation instead.

Taffaro was accused of dodging the tax man by inflating his expenses at an off-shore services company he used to run with Normand, who hasn't been charged with any wrong-doing.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman stopped short of handing out prison time, but he made remarks from the bench that weren't very flattering toward either Taffaro or Normand, calling the business they ran "deserving of the public's suspicion..."

The company, CTNN, acted as a kind of broker, supplying an oil services company called Harvey Gulf International with a food supplier called Pelican Marine. Normand and Taffaro, who had no other customers, took about 10 percent for their services.

At one point an IRS agent looking into the business called it a "no work" contract, something the men deny.

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Child drowned in deplorable conditions

The police in Slidell described stumbling on a horrific scene when they responded over the weekend to a report of a child drowning in a backyard swimming pool.

They said the 4-year-old boy had been left unattended by his father, who was inside using drugs. The house had no running water, and it was strewn with garbage, rotting food and animal feces.

The boy's father, who has been booked with negligent homicide and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile, has pleaded guilty in the past to possession of methamphetamine and domestic abuse.

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From around the web

There is or is not an imminent trade war with China. President Trump wants to scale back American involvement in the Syrian war and plans to impose new sanctions on Russia. It was 87 million people, not 50 million people, whose data on Facebook was shared improperly, or maybe it was everyone's data.

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Also...

Having sex outside the Crown & Anchor in plain view of a security camera will get you fired from the Navy.

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The Morning Briefing is compiled by Andrew Vanacore, deputy editor for the New Orleans Advocate. Get in touch with feedback, tips, complaints at [email protected].

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