NEW ORLEANS — The Orleans District Attorney's Office has refused charges for at least 19 individuals arrested on Lundi Gras, according to Magistrate Court documents.
One of the 19 individuals was 19-year-old, Malik Nabers, who plays football for LSU.
Nabers is said to be an "electric wide receiver" from Youngsville, La., according to LSU.net.
Court documents show that Nabers was arrested for illegally carrying a weapon on Bourbon Street on Lundi Gras.
At Nabers' first appearance on Fat Tuesday, an attorney in the DA's Office refused charges on the condition that Nabers not get his gun back.
According to President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, Rafael Goyeneche, the DA's office typically sets bail at first appearances.
“I’ve never seen a prosecutor do this. If a prosecutor did this without the knowledge and approval of their boss, which is the DA, I would be surprised if they still had a job the next day," Goyeneche said.
After first appearances, police submit a report to the DA's Office, the case is screened and the DA chooses to accept or reject the case, Goyeneche said.
Goyeneche said the decision to refuse the cases was made without knowing all the facts of the cases.
“These are people that the police determined they did not have a concealed carry permit, were in violation of state law and they made the arrest. So, they did their job, but the District Attorney’s office in my opinion didn’t do their job," Goyeneche said.
The District Attorney's Office responded to the Eyewitness News in a statement.
“When faced with a no probable cause finding by the court, the ADA made decisions that would increase safety in our city like requiring defendants to forfeit their weapons. To be clear, these cases will still be screened by the DA’s Office and evaluated in coordination with the law enforcement entities responsible for the arrest," the DA's Office said.
According to Goyeneche, without charges being pressed against them, the arrested individuals could still be entitled to their property.
"In some of the cases, the arrests may not have been lawful under the probable cause standard which means those arrested subjects were entitled to receive their firearms back," Goyeneche said.
15 of the 19 cases are illegal weapons arrests. The other four range from drug possession to domestic battery.
"As always, the DA’s Office is proud of and grateful for all of the hard work of the men and women of the local and state law enforcement agencies throughout this Mardi Gras season. It’s their tireless efforts to keep illegally-concealed firearms off our streets and out of the hands of drunken revelers that prevented an untold number of shootings," the DA's Office said.
This comes after police urged people to leave guns at home during Carnival and said they would crack down on illegal gun possession.
"Where we can push these cases from the probable cause of their arrests to beyond a reasonable doubt for a conviction, we absolutely will. And, where we can’t, we will still do everything in our power to keep these guns from falling into the hands of the irresponsible," the DA's Office said.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.