Attorneys Don Cazayoux and Lane Ewing of the Cazayoux Ewing Law Firm recently volunteered at Louisiana State Bar Association’s “Lawyers in Libraries,” an event in which lawyers seek to help the public become aware of options available to them when they cannot afford an attorney. As a part of Louisiana’s “National Celebrate Pro Bono Week,” the program is designed to deliver information about pro bono attorneys through the city’s public libraries. Volunteers and the Legal Education & Assistance Program that help coordinate the event also work to provide online and print resources that are available to the public year-round. Click here to read more about this important event.
WDSU reported on January 5 that a 28-year-old man passed away after a hit-and-run collision in New Orleans occurred at around 3:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Reports showed that the victim was dragged by the vehicle from the French Quarter up to the Westbank. He was identified by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office as a 28-year-old man formerly from Omaha. He was waiting for an Uber ride near the French Quarter before the accident, a family of the victim told KETV NewsWatch 7.
The victim was struck by a black sedan on the corner of Decatur Street and Dumaine Street. Investigators revealed that his body was discovered by a motorist near Algers, which was approximately six miles from where the accident initially occurred.
The driver of the black sedan, which has four doors and tinted windows, is still at large. Police officials are doing everything they can to track down the driver in order to determine the cause of this horrible accident.
A recent article in The Washington Post details the alarming process by which prosecutors and court officials redefined a legal term in order to penalize a politician for engaging in previously non-criminal activities normally associated with politics.
Robert F. McDonnell, former governor of Virginia, has been sentenced to two years in prison after a court found him guilty of accepting gifts from one Richmond businessman in exchange for political favors and acts. While the Supreme Court has officially defined an “official act” of a government official as “the actual exercise of government power,” prosecutors submitted a new definition that considers “official acts” to be any type of “behavior that could have some attenuated connection to a potential government decision later.”
This new definition was held up by an appellate court and endorsed by the judge presiding over McDonnell’s trial, who told jury members to consider the new definition when making their decision.
As was pointed out by the author of the Post piece as well as briefs written by “31 current governors; 60 former state attorneys general (six from Virginia filed their own); 13 former federal officials, including two former U.S. attorneys general and former legal counsels to every president starting with Ronald Reagan; and three law professors, from Harvard University and the University of Virginia,” the steps taken in this trial represent massive contortion of “the understanding of quid pro quo corruption.”
At around 11:00 p.m. on December 24, a single-vehicle crash on Lousiana Highway 308 in Lafourche Parish killed a 34-year-old woman from Raceland. According to the investigation, a 2002 Lincoln LS, driven by a 33-year-old Raceland man, was traveling north on the highway when it drove off the right side of the road and onto Rodriguez Drive, where the vehicle struck a driveway. Apparently, the angle of the crash led the vehicle to become airborne before striking two utility poles.
The driver was thrown out of the vehicle and was brought to Terrebonne General Medical Center after sustaining non-life threatening injuries. His passenger, the 34-year-old woman, sustained serious injuries and was taken to St. Anne Hospital for treatment. She was set to be transferred to University Medical Center in New Orleans due to the serious nature of her injuries, but she died on the way.
It is unknown whether the driver was intoxicated at the time of the accident, but he submitted to a blood test and results are pending at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab.
