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BREAKING NEWS AT NOLA.COM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2009
NEW
ORLEANS EDITION • 75¢
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Mose
Jefferson
case
goes to
jury
A native son rises
to lead the faithful
as N.O. archbishop
Witness
to five
teens’
slayings
speaks
Deliberations resume
today in bribery trial
Tape used to dispute
her whereabouts
By Laura Maggi
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer
Staff writer
A federal jury could reach a
verdict today in the federal trial
of political operative Mose Jefferson, accused of bribing former Orleans Parish School
B o ar d p re s id en t E l le ne se
Brooks-Simms to gain her support for a product he was selling.
After jurors deliberated for
three hours Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon dismissed them at 6 p.m.,
telling them not to read or
watch any news reports about
The state’s key witness in the
capital murder trial of Michael
Anderson said
in November
2006 that she
was at a hotel
when the Central City massacre took
place and only
learned about
Michael
it from a
Anderson
phone call, the
Accused of
jury heard
single-handedly
Thursday.
gunning down
five teens
“I wasn’t
out there,”
Torrie Williams said on a taped
phone call to a man named Don
Carter. “I didn’t see anything.”
Williams repeatedly says during the call, “I’m not showing up
in no courtroom.”
In rapid speech, she also said
ELIOT KAMENITZ / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Gregory Aymond, the 14th archbishop of New Orleans, waves to cheering supporters Thursday during his procession
into St. Louis Cathedral. ‘God has been faithful to us for more than 200 years,’ Aymond said.
See WITNESS, A-11
CATHOLICS PACK CATHEDRAL TO WATCH AYMOND ASSUME JOB
Orleans
top cop,
DA trade
verbal jabs
––––––––––
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
Archbishop Gregory Aymond, a son of Gentilly, assumed leadership of the Catholic
Church in southeast Louisiana on Thursday,
pledging to an audience at St. Louis Cathedral
“to ask God daily for the mind
and heart of Jesus Christ,
that I may be a good shepSee video of herd to you.”
They were among AyArchbishop
mond’s first words to the
Aymond's
battered regional church of
installation
380,000, delivered a few minMass on
utes after he stepped inside
nola.com
the cathedral to a wave of applause — and then long, unexpected and robust cheering from more than
1,000 invited guests.
But both say system
has been improved
By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer
There have been small cracks
in the mostly polite relationship
between New Orleans’ top cop
and its leading prosecutor before.
But the hairline fractures
threatened to turn into a fullblown schism this week, with
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro criticizing Superintendent
Warren Riley’s Police Department at a low-key forum
Wednesday night and the chief
responding bitterly Thursday
morning.
“It’s an unfortunate, unfortunate situation,” New Orleans
Police Superintendent Warren
Riley told WWL-TV Thursday.
“We work for the citizens of
New Orleans. We should be
working together. If we are not,
that’s the DA’s choice.”
The previous evening, at a
meeting in Elmwood, Cannizzaro spoke in general about
New Orleans’ broken justice
system, saying he had taken
over a troubled and ineffective
.. .
See JUSTICE, A-11
See ARCHBISHOP, A-4
LOW
90 76
MICHAEL DeMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Archbishop Gregory Aymond, right, receives the shepherd’s
staff, a symbol of leadership, from Archbishop Pietro
Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.
See MOSE, A-11
Road Home approves
rebuilding extension
BOMBER GOES HOME
––––––––––
LRA chief says he’ll
try to offer more cash
––––––––––
By David Hammer
Staff writer
AMR NABIL / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie jet bombing that killed
270 people, arrives to a hero’s welcome Thursday in Tripoli, Libya. Scotland freed al-Megrahi,
who is terminally ill, allowing him to die at home despite American protests. See story, A-6
PARTLY CLOUDY, STORMS
HIGH
the case and
report back in
the morning.
The jury is
co ns i de ri ng
s e v e n
charges: conspiracy to
bribe Brooks- Mose Jefferson
Simms, three Characterizes
c o u n t s o f checks as gift to
b r i b e r y f o r a friend and
each check he former lover
gave her, one
count of money laundering, and
two counts of obstruction of justice.
Jefferson is accused of bribing Brooks-Simms for her help
in getting the board to approve
two contracts totaling almost
$14 million for the I CAN Learn
algebra curriculum.
B ro ok s -S im ms , wh o h as
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
commit bribery, was the government’s star witness, telling the
jurors she sold her influence for
$140,000 in bribes. She was
backed up by two recordings of
conversations she had with Jefferson while wearing a wire.
Jefferson, the older brother of
former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, has not disputed giving
Brooks-Simms three checks
Weather,
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Just before a high-temperature congressional hearing on
the Road Home program
Thursday, the head of the
Louisiana Recovery Authority
announced that changes have
been made to two major rules
TELEVISION
WASHINGTON
WORLD
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A-6
affecting recipients who are still
having trouble rebuilding.
LRA Executive Director Paul
Rainwater said a change has already been approved to extend a
three-year time limit for grant
recipients who can show they
need more time to rebuild.
Rainwater also said he would
seek approval from his board
next month to offer more money
to about 20,000 low- to moderateincome homeowners who qualify.
He plans to make $600 million
available for that purpose, which
See ROAD HOME, A-8
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