NEW ORLEANS — Two and a half months after Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams and his mother were carjacked, the four suspects entered into a plea. The incident happened around 10 p.m. on Oct. 16 in the Lower Garden District. The next day, Williams told WWL Louisiana he’s happy to be alive.
Four suspects in the case appeared before a judge Monday morning. All four- Ahmad Seals, Dijohn Curtis, Amajha Curtis and Santana Gilmore, are being tried as adults and charged with three counts each of armed robbery. They all pleaded not guilty Monday morning. Three of them, Seals, Dijohn and Amajha, previously pled not guilty, but they had to do it again because Gilmore was recently added as a defendant.
Williams was not in court Monday for the case, but even if he was, he’d only be in the courtroom as a victim- as he’s recused himself from the case. The Louisiana Attorney General’s office has stepped in to prosecute. Loyola Law professor Dane Ciolino says he doesn’t think it’ll be handled much differently than any other case.
“The attorney general, of course, ran on a tough-on-crime platform the attorney general’s office doesn’t do as its principal job criminal prosecutions only in rare cases like this one,” Ciolino said.
All four suspects are being tried as adults, although three of them are 17 or under. The decision to charge them as adults came from the prosecutors, but Ciolino says it sends a message.
“Mr. Williams ran for office in part on suggesting he wasn’t going to ramp up juvenile prosecutions to bring them into adult court, but it seems like so many crimes in Orleans parish are being committed by juveniles and people are sick and tired,” Ciolino said. “It’s unfortunate but the message does need to be sent to young people, they aren’t going to get a free ride because they happen to be under the age of 17.”
The suspects are facing up to 99 years each if convicted. The judge set discovery for March 15.