The
Jefferson Parish district attorney's office has dropped the armed
robbery charge against a Marrero man whose conviction was overturned
by a state district judge last month.
In
October, a jury convicted Kerry Brown, 21, of the armed robbery of
the McDonald's restaurant at 3407 Lapalco Blvd. But Judge Robert Murphy
threw out the conviction Feb. 1 when defense attorney Tommy Calogero
showed that sheriffs deputies were not telling the truth about how
Brown was apprehended.
In
the trial, several street crimes deputies testified that Brown was
caught trying to enter his home after a lengthy chase through the
streets of Woodmere. About $200 in a McDonald's bag was found near
Brown's residence.
But
in a hearing in which he sought a new trial, Calogero called Deputy
Joseph Ragas, who testified that he picked up Brown at a bus stop
that day. Brown had said he was waiting for a bus when he was arrested.
Ragas did not testify during the trial, but Calogero called him for
the hearing after he listened to recordings of police radio traffic
made during the search for the robber. The tape recording conclusively
showed that no chase had ever taken place. Noting that the robber
wore a mask, Calogero also questioned the restaurant manager's identification
of Brown as the robber. Prosecutor Walter Amstuts, who dropped the
charge against Brown on Monday, said Wednesday that he acted "because
there were a number of inconsistencies in the descriptions that I
couldn't resolve."
After
Murphy threw out the conviction last month, Amstuts had said that
he was confident Griffin's testimony was accurate and that he expected
to retry the suspect. "But, based on what I have to go with now,
I had no choice but to dismiss the charge," he said. Brown avoided
a minimum sentence of 15 years. Calogero could not be reached for
comment.
Re-printed
in part from Times-Picayune