NEW ORLEANS -- A parade of defendants walked out of Orleans Parish Criminal Court, minus the ankle bracelets they wore into the courthouse.
The Orleans Sheriff's Office, which once supervised the electronic monitoring of suspects, notified the court it would no longer be involved in the program as of this Friday.
Attorney Jeffery Smith said it was up to the judge to decide whether his client would go free, have his bond amount changed or be sent to jail.
"The facts were really supportive of my client, probably not even having an ankle bracelet anymore," Smith said. "So, what the judge did in this particular case, this situation, he gave him a curfew."
Sheriff Marlin Gusman told the city more than a year ago his department would cut ties with the program, unless the city allocated additional dollars.
"(Gusman) gave 14 months notice of his intent to do this," said the sheriff's attorney James Williams. "He also extended that several times, trying to give everyone in the law enforcement community an opportunity to make adjustments."
Just last week, the city sent out a request for proposals for a private operator. Those bids aren't due until early February, leaving the city-funded program in limbo.
"It's certainly not the sheriff's fault," Williams said. "The sheriff's not doing this to be retaliatory or point the finger at anyone."
A New Orleans based private electronic monitoring firm called Alternative To Incarceration(A2I) is located just across the street from criminal court. The company plans to submit a bid to run the city's program.
"Last year, we monitored 436 defendants through our office down here," said A2I's attorney Lucas Morehouse. "We could monitor hundreds at a time."
There are currently 45 adult suspects and 15 juveniles enrolled in the city's ankle bracelet program. Most of them were released on bail today.
According to the city, the sheriff was paid an agreed upon amount for electronic monitoring services and any lack of payment was a result of the sheriff not signing a cooperative endeavor agreement -- so that he could be paid for such services.
