The failure by law enforcement officials to immediately process the jail cell from which 10 inmates escaped on May 16 as a crime scene could jeopardize potential prosecutions of the inmates, an expert said.
“One of the first things any prosecutor looks for is basic crime scene documentation: photos, evidence logs, and signs that law enforcement treated the scene seriously,” Jason Pack, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital. “Even if the facts seem clear-cut, skipping those steps opens the door for defense attorneys to argue the investigation was incomplete or sloppy.”
On Thursday, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams made what he called a “very unusual” move.
Noting that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had not ordered a crime scene investigation inside the jail cell, he assembled a team of New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) crime scene technicians and personally accompanied them to the jail to collect evidence.
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“Time is also of the essence when trying to get good DNA samples or collect fingerprints to make sure those areas are not molested or destroyed in any way,” he told the media at the time. “So I am deeply concerned that there was not an immediate request by the sheriff to our local crime lab to get in there and examine, document, preserve and collect all of the forensic evidence that was available there so that we could already have it tested.”
Pack said that the delayed collection of evidence could help defense attorneys muddy the waters, and that Williams is likely tying up loose ends to make his potential cases as bulletproof as possible.
“Now that someone from inside the jail has been charged with helping the escape, the district attorney was likely thinking like a prosecutor from the start,” he said. “He would have been focused on how the case will look in court and what a judge or jury will expect to see.”
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Sterling Williams, 33, an employee of the sheriff’s office and a maintenance worker at the jail, has been arrested and charged with 10 counts of principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office for allegedly aiding the inmates in their jailbreak.
He is accused of turning off the water in the cell from which the inmates escaped, allowing them to remove a toilet that blocked a hole they had cut into the cell’s wall.
Once the toilet was removed, they climbed through the hole, ran through an unguarded corridor, and then made a beeline for the jail’s fence, hopping over it and onto the streets of New Orleans.
Williams told investigators the inmates threatened to “shank” him if he did not help them.
“For legal purposes, especially when a criminal charge has already been filed, the pod where the escape happened still needs to be treated like a crime scene,” Pack said.
However, he noted that the crime scene is a hectic area. The jail has 1,400 inmates, and countless inmates and staff could have contaminated the crime scene by now.
“It’s also important to remember that a jail pod isn’t a clean crime scene. It’s a busy place: guards, inmates, maintenance workers,” Pack said. “A lot of people have access.”
According to Pack, the fingerprint and DNA evidence might not yield a clear-cut answer as to who might have committed a crime. Instead, he said, the value in collecting that evidence is to show in court that “every reasonable step was taken” in the investigation.
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Williams said after collecting evidence from the scene that he had asked all OPSO employees and other relevant parties to voluntarily submit to fingerprinting in order to rule them out as suspects. He also demanded that surveillance footage from 90 cameras in the jail from April 1 through May 21 be handed over to his office.
“Even when video shows how the escape happened, crime scene photos and records help prove that the case was handled professionally and by the book,” Pack said.
The May 16 early morning escape included a convicted four-time killer, along with nine others facing violent criminal charges stemming from second-degree murder to domestic abuse and felon in possession of a firearm.
They taunted the authorities on the way out, writing “To easy LOL,” along with other messages on the wall of the cell. Authorities were unaware that the men were missing for about eight hours after the escape.
The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Two hundred local, state and federal law enforcement officers have been involved in a manhunt for the suspects.
As of Tuesday, eight of the suspects have been recaptured, and 14 people have been arrested for aiding them.
Along with Williams, an inmate who did not escape with the group of 10 became the second person from inside the jail to be charged with helping them escape.
Trevon Williams, 23, has been rebooked on 10 counts of principal to simple escape for allegedly giving the escapees a blanket and shirt to help them hop the razor-wire fence during their escape.
Arrests over the weekend included 28-year-old Lenika Vanburen, 18-year-old Patricia Vanburen, 27-year-old Tyshanea “Minnie” Randolph, 47-year-old Lenton Vanburen Sr. and 40-year-old Angel McKey – all accused of aiding the escapees. Lenton Vanburen Sr. is the father of escapee Lenton Vanburen, who has since been caught, a source confirmed to Fox News.
State police said that Diamond White, 21, was also arrested on charges that include principal to aggravated escape and obstruction of justice, USA Today reported.
Emmitt Weber, 28, was also arrested for allegedly helping two of the inmates after the escape. So was Casey Smith, 30, who reportedly admitted to driving some of the inmates around New Orleans after they escaped.
On Thursday night, the Louisiana State Police announced that it had arrested Connie Weeden, 59, who allegedly sent cash to then-fugitive Jermaine Donald via a cellphone app.
Before that, Cortnie Harris, 32, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, were arrested for allegedly assisting the fugitives.
Harris is accused of transporting some of the escapees to locations throughout New Orleans after the escape, and Baptiste is accused of being in contact with escapee Corey Boyd and bringing him food after the escape.
Sources close to the investigation told Fox News that Baptiste is the girlfriend of now-recaptured Boyd, who is accused of second-degree murder, and Harris is the girlfriend of Leo Tate, who is still on the run.
On Monday, three more inmates were recaptured.
Vanburen was caught in Baton Rouge, and Tate and Donald were captured by the Texas Department of Public Safety in Walker, Texas, according to the Louisiana State Police.
Groves remains on the run with Antoine Massey, a four-time jail escapee who faces charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, theft of a motor vehicle and a parole violation.
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