Category Archives: New Orleans

Expert issues report on how to settle highly contentious New Orleans church bankruptcy case

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Mohsin ‘Mo’ Meghji was paid $350,000 to advise on conflicting settlement proposals from the church and clergy abuse victims

An outside expert brought in to help resolve the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans’ expensive, highly contentious bankruptcy protection case has suggested deferring pay to all professionals involved in the matter for three months.

The move is to see if that prompts the church and clergy abuse victims to compromise on conflicting settlement proposals which are hundreds of millions of dollars apart.

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Expert hired to help resolve New Orleans archdiocese bankruptcy faces FBI scrutiny

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Mohsin Meghji’s conduct in a separate case raised ethics questions as ex-judge he was linked to faces investigation

A nationally renowned business-turnaround expert hired to help resolve the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans’ contentious and costly bankruptcy – which has ensnared hundreds of clergy molestation survivors – is now facing scrutiny from the FBI after his conduct in a separate case raised ethics-related questions.

The Wall Street Journal published reporting on Mohsin “Mo” Meghji on Wednesday, the day he was due to complete an assessment on the viability of two competing archdiocesan restructuring plans drafted by the church as well as those to whom it is indebted, among them hundreds of victims of sexually abusive clergymen.

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Outcry as New Orleans judge further delays retired priest’s rape case

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Calls rise for Benedict Willard to be punished after recusing himself from Lawrence Hecker case on morning of trial

Court watchdogs and advocates for victims of sexual abuse are calling for a New Orleans judge to be punished and voted out of office after he controversially delayed the trial of retired Catholic priest charged with child rape and kidnapping – on the morning of jury selection.

Judge Benedict Willard’s critics say his angry outbursts have been a problem over more than two decades on the bench. But they are raising fresh concerns after Willard’s decision to remove members of the local district attorney’s office during a rape trial in August reverberated to affect the eagerly anticipated trial of Lawrence Hecker, 93, on Tuesday.

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Louisiana Catholic church turns to federal court to attack law aiding abuse victims

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‘If anyone could undo … the will of Louisiana … the Catholic church can and will,’ says survivor whose case is targeted

Months after Louisiana’s supreme court upheld the constitutionality of a state law that let child molestation victims sue for long-ago abuse, despite arguments to the contrary by a Roman Catholic diocese, another church organization is asking the federal government to strike the statute down.

Behind the request in question are the Dominican Sisters of Peace and a law firm that boasts about having represented Catholic institutions in Louisiana courts for more than a century. Another of the law firm’s clients in question, the archdiocese of New Orleans, is offering clergy molestation victims less than 10% of what they are requesting in a bankruptcy settlement, in part by arguing the so-called “lookback window” law doesn’t apply to more than 600 abuse claims.

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Retired New Orleans priest accused of child rape found competent – but trial could be delayed

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Lawrence Hecker, 92 and diagnosed with dementia, will be evaluated again to see if he is capable of defending himself

A court-ordered psychiatrist evaluated self-acknowledged child molester and retired priest Lawrence Hecker for a third time on Thursday, declaring him “fragilely competent” to stand trial on rape and kidnapping charges.

New Orleans criminal court judge Benedict Willard stopped short of declaring Hecker competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense but kept a 24 September trial date in place.

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Dementia diagnosis could delay trial of New Orleans priest accused of rape

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Attorneys for Lawrence Hecker, charged with raping teen in 1975, urge judge to declare him incompetent to stand trial

Retired Catholic priest and self-acknowledged child molester Lawrence Hecker’s trial on rape and kidnapping charges – scheduled for 24 September – could be significantly delayed yet again after a medical report on the 92-year-old’s mental health has been filed in court.

A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation diagnosed Hecker with dementia, saying he has “good days and bad days”, according to a statement from his defense team. Defense attorneys Matthew McLaren and Eugene Redmann issued a statement Tuesday urging judge Benedict Willard to declare Hecker incompetent to stand trial.

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New Orleans Catholic priest accused of raping teen in 1975 gets trial date

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Lawrence Hecker will face court on kidnapping and rape charges in September pending a final competency ruling

A doctor’s report says that Lawrence Hecker, the retired New Orleans priest who faces charges of raping a teenager after strangling him unconscious in 1975, has dementia – but it says nothing about Hecker’s competency to stand trial.

On Thursday, after seven hearings and still no definitive determination on Hecker’s competency, his trial on rape and kidnapping charges has been set for 24 September.

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Volunteer with key role in New Orleans church bankruptcy admits to stunning lack of qualifications

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Lee Eagan said he lacked prior experience, failed to familiarize himself with rules and suffered cognitive decline as case expenses soar to $40m

A US government official is questioning the soaring legal fees paid by the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans after the volunteer managing the organization’s four-and-a-half-year-old bankruptcy admitted under oath to a stunning lack of qualifications for his role. Lee Eagan, a local businessman, testified in early July to having never previously policed the costs of a bankruptcy as well as failing to familiarize himself with the rules for that kind of proceeding.

He also swore – in a separate series of earlier depositions – to grappling with substantial cognitive decline after a severe car crash nearly two years beforehand.

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‘It wasn’t a big deal’: secret deposition reveals how a child molester priest was shielded by his church

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Lawrence Hecker pleaded the fifth 117 times as he detailed how the Catholic church protected him for more than two decades after he admitted to molesting children

Longtime New Orleans Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker received a special honor from the Vatican nearly 25 years ago despite having confessed to molesting children. Then, for another two decades, church leaders in the city strategically shielded him from law enforcement and media exposure – while also providing him with financial support ranging from paid limousine rides and therapeutic massages to full retirement benefits, according to his own, previously unreported testimony.

A sworn deposition Hecker gave in private in 2020 shows exactly how high-placed Catholic church officials in New Orleans let him keep his elevated position for years, even after they had been advised to oust him from the clergy and – much later – publicly acknowledged that he was a child predator.

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‘We were encouraged to be with younger boys’: breaking down a child molester priest’s secret testimony

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In unearthed deposition, Lawrence Hecker pleaded the fifth 117 times, but still provided damning details of decades-long predatory behavior

The Guardian and CBS affiliate WWL Louisiana have obtained a long suppressed, eight-and-a-half-hour deposition of a 92-year-old Catholic priest charged with physically overpowering and raping a boy in a New Orleans church in 1975.

Taken in 2020 as part of a civil lawsuit demanding damages from him and the church, clergyman Lawrence Hecker provides in the deposition the most complete account yet of how the US’s second-oldest archdiocese spent much of its recent history taking extreme measures to keep the public from finding out about his abusive past. The questioning – which the church has fought in court for years to keep hidden – also reveals steps the city’s last four archbishops took to help him avoid accountability for decades.

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More than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested across US campuses

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Police arrest more than 200 students at UCLA as law enforcement clears camp at Dartmouth, arresting more than 90 students

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses in recent weeks.

Police arrested more than 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, pushing the total past 2,000, according to an Associated Press tally.

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US priest accused of raping teen in 1975 not fit to stand trial, psychiatrists say

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Retired Lawrence Hecker, 92, charged in New Orleans, has memory loss and should be re-evaluated at later date, report finds

A 92-year-old retired Catholic priest charged with strangling a teenager and raping him in a New Orleans church in 1975 has short-term memory loss that prevents him from assisting in his defense, according to a team of forensic psychiatrists whose findings could influence whether one of Louisiana’s most prominent cases of clergy abuse is ever tried.

In a report which has not been publicly released but was reviewed Tuesday by WWL Louisiana and the Guardian, the psychiatrists said the priest – Lawrence Hecker – should not be tried for now on rape, kidnapping, crimes against nature and theft charges until he is re-evaluated later.

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Mental competency hearing delayed for US priest charged with raping teen

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Lawrence Hecker is charged with raping teenager after strangling him in 1975 in a New Orleans church

A mental competency hearing has been delayed again for a 92-year-old retired Catholic priest faced with charges of raping a teenager after strangling him unconscious in 1975 in a New Orleans church.

Lawrence Hecker’s trial on state charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft has been delayed several times since January.

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Rapper BG had permission to perform and should not be re-imprisoned, say lawyers

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Attorneys for Christopher Dorsey asked federal judge in court filings on Friday to allow musician to remain on supervised release

Attorneys for the New Orleans-born rapper BG maintain he did have official permission to perform alongside prominent fellow musicians despite what authorities claimed when they recently arrested him on allegations of violating the terms of his supervised release from federal prison.

Lawyers for Christopher Dorsey – BG’s legal name – made those contentions in court filings on Friday that asked a federal judge to allow the artist to remain on supervised release rather than face re-imprisonment.

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Doctor to say if New Orleans priest with rape charges is competent to stand trial

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Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, 92, was evaluated by psychiatrist after defense attorneys said he’s too sick to be tried

Seven months after his arrest on rape and kidnapping charges, 92-year-old Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker appeared in court in Louisiana on Thursday in an orange prison jumpsuit, was rolled in a wheelchair to a back room and was evaluated by a doctor to see if he’s competent to stand trial.

Since being charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft, Hecker has taken ill and was transferred from Orleans parish jail to a long-term care facility, under armed guard. Hecker’s defense attorneys argue he’s too sick to be tried and filed a motion last month to have him evaluated for his mental competency.

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Pigs don’t fly: Louisiana piglet rescued after being thrown in Mardi Gras

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Lieutenant governor ‘pardons’ animal and Republican local politician adopts it after it’s saved in New Orleans

A piglet that was rescued after being tossed like a football near a Mardi Gras event in New Orleans was “pardoned” on Wednesday and has found a permanent home with a Louisiana lawmaker.

The weeks-old pig – dubbed Earl “Piglet” Long, a play on the name of the 45th governor of Louisiana – was ceremoniously pardoned by the lieutenant governor, Billy Nungesser, on the Louisiana capitol steps.

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‘No Mardi Gras mask can hide genocide’: the pro-Palestine activism of this year’s carnival

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New Orleans carnival attendees have long protested against injustice – this year, Palestinian solidarity is part of the picture

Carnival in New Orleans, a time of indulgence before the Lenten season, is known for its bright, boldly decorated parades and floats, and celebratory atmosphere. Mardi Gras Day, or Fat Tuesday, the last day of revelry, is a culmination of this indulgence. But, historically, carnival has also been an occasion for protesting against injustice and subverting political norms.

This year’s festival pushed that tradition forward with krewes – groups that host parades and balls – that incorporated demonstrations of Palestinian solidarity into their processions. Amid the Israel-Gaza war, hundreds of carnival participants have used the marches to bring awareness to the conflict.

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US dentist may lose eye after allegedly getting stabbed in face by ex-patient

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Louisiana police papers say Sharon Stewart went into Dr Katie Tran’s office and attacked her and others with a three-inch blade

A young Louisiana dentist is facing the likely loss of one of her eyes after a former patient went into her office and stabbed her.

The attack which targeted Dr Katherine ‘Katie’ Tran and two of her colleagues – while leading to the arrest of Sharon Stewart – is the latest chilling reminder that US healthcare professionals are suffering more workplace violence injuries than those in any other industry, including law enforcement, as the Associated Press reported last year.

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Death, guns and ‘corrupt cop’ claims: saga that gripped New Orleans reaches its end

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The verdict in the manslaughter trial over the 2016 death of Saints star Will Smith brings to a close a turbulent eight years of legal wrangling

Ever since the New Orleans tow-truck company owner Cardell Hayes shot the retired local pro-football champion Will Smith to death and wounded the former athlete’s wife on a city street late on the night of 9 April 2016, people on all sides of the case have made it as complicated as possible in their fight for what they consider to be justice.

It is a case that has gripped south-eastern Louisiana – where football players are huge celebrities – and also involved dark, if unsupported, allegations of another deep south staple: police corruption. Competing theories and narratives have vied for supremacy, with almost as many different ideas of what happened as people willing to voice them.

Ramon Antonio Vargas covered the New Orleans Saints in 2013 and 2014 at the New Orleans Advocate and also covered the case of Hayes and Smith before joining the Guardian in 2022.

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New Orleans man found guilty of manslaughter for 2016 killing of former NFL player

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Cardell Hayes faces up to 40 years in prison for the shooting after a traffic altercation that left Will Smith dead

A jury found a New Orleans man guilty of manslaughter after he shot and killed former NFL player Will Smith in 2016.

Cardell Hayes, 36, could face up to 40 years in prison after the guilty conviction. Hayes’ lawyers tried to argue that he shot Smith out of self-defense following a traffic accident that escalated to an altercation in April 2016. But prosecutors for the Orleans parish district attorney’s office said that Hayes had fired needlessly, according to ESPN.

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