Man lost in NOLA jails still awaiting day in court - 400 days in jail without going to court

[The Straight Story]

Man lost in NOLA jails still awaiting day in court

BAKERSFIELD - A Bakersfield man who was lost for more than a year in Louisiana jails gets the latest word from New Orleans.

Pedro Parra spent 400 days in jail in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina without going to court.

His lawyer gave us the latest on his case.

Daniel Rodriguez is Parra’s lawyer for a 2005 felony charge that still has not come to court.

Parra’s paperwork was repeatedly shuffled over while he was in jail until a fellow inmate’s lawyer spoke up.

He was arrested for allegedly fighting with another man on his way to work in New Orleans.

Parra, who didn’t speak English, had no lawyer to represent him during his 13-moth ordeal.

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=2656a715-6ff9-4f41-82fa-91dba51abf70

[ThomCat]

1. That man deserves an official apology,

one hell of a settlement, and the charges dropped.

[jus_the_facts]

2. Happens more than you'd ever imagine....

....happened to someone I know...he was kept in a jail without adequate representation for 11 months...took over two months for an arrainment...never got to breathe fresh air or see the sun during those 11 months...untill he ESCAPED after trying to write to the state in his own defense which went in one ear and out another...then after extradition he was sentenced and had to serve another 2 YEARS for simple escape...luckily the jail he had to serve this sentence had a small yard to let the prisoners out for short periods of time which the other jail did not...this happened in his small back wards HOMETOWN...in north Louisiana...when it came time to let him out..they also tried to fein ignorance and keep him locked up...luckily again after his perole period was over...he was granted a full pardon by the Gov. at the time...so he could vote.

[EFerrari]

7. I'll be your witness. San Francisco County Jail is full of people

who don't speak English and who have no representation to speak of.

They are held for months with no way to even signal their families that they are alive.

How did they get there? They were poor. When was poverty declared a felony and when did incarcerating poor people become our way of life?

On edit: I was an official translator in the City and County of San Francisco which is how I got to see our system at work. :(

[jus_the_facts]

8. This guy was white and his family wasn't considered poor....

...I fully believe the lack of due process was a personal vendetta against him and his family for having ties which had gotten him out of trouble before...one of the policemen from that town came to my house un-escorted by local law enforcement when my friend escaped to try to get me to let them tap my phone to find out where he was... which I didn't do...but I was young and ignorant of the law at the time and didn't know my rights about him coming to my house without going through the proper procedure of having the local authorities escort him out of his juristiction...eventually this BAD cop was jailed himself after breaking' the law...so karma worked it's might with him in the end.

[ClintonTyree]

3. So much for due process of law....

poor bastard.

[itsmesgd]

4. where is his attorney.

even a court appointed counsel could get him out for being "lost" for 400 days.

welcome to America

[jus_the_facts]

5. Court appointed councel doesn't always give a shit...don't get paid to....

...that's what happened to the person I posted about above.

[RB TexLa]

6. Speedy trial in Louisiana is generally regarded of as being 1 and 1/2 years from arrest