Butterfingers? Cementhead!
By John Simerman
Monday, October 1, 2012
Business was brisk inside Orleans Parish magistrate court Monday afternoon as
criminal defendants filled up the back rows while cops sat waiting to testify.
That's when a joint fell out of attorney Jason
Cantrell 's pocket and onto the floor in front of New Orleans Police Department officers.
Cantrell, 43, is an assistant city attorney and son of Magistrate Commissioner Harry Cantrell. He lost in a race for a juvenile court judgeship in 2009.
Cantrell was cited and let go under a city policy for low-level marijuana cases, police said.
An officer said Cantrell was a first-time offender. He was issued a summons for simple possession of marijuana, said Officer Garry Flot, an NOPD spokesman.
Flot said Cantrell was talking to an officer when the joint flew.
Sources painted a comical picture of the incident, saying a pair of cops glanced at the joint on the ground, then at each other before making arguably the easiest collar in the annals of policework.
Officers were seen chuckling as their colleagues led Cantrell out of the courtroom about 4:15 p.m. to write him up.
Cantrell was not working as a city attorney when he lost the joint, said Ryan Berni, a spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office. He was suspended without pay pending an investigation, Berni said.
Cantrell could not be reached afterward. He has practiced civil and criminal law in New Orleans for 17 years, including six as a public defender in Juvenile Court.
His wife, LaToya Cantrell, is a candidate for the District B seat on the City Council.
The City Council in late 2010 made pot possession a municipal offense, allowing police to issue a summons rather than arrest and book an offender on state charges.
The City Attorney's Office, which normally prosecutes municipal cases, has recused itself in Cantrell's new pot case, Berni said.
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| Orleans parish Criminal District Court (Jennifer Zdon) |
Cantrell, 43, is an assistant city attorney and son of Magistrate Commissioner Harry Cantrell. He lost in a race for a juvenile court judgeship in 2009.
Cantrell was cited and let go under a city policy for low-level marijuana cases, police said.
An officer said Cantrell was a first-time offender. He was issued a summons for simple possession of marijuana, said Officer Garry Flot, an NOPD spokesman.
Flot said Cantrell was talking to an officer when the joint flew.
Sources painted a comical picture of the incident, saying a pair of cops glanced at the joint on the ground, then at each other before making arguably the easiest collar in the annals of policework.
Officers were seen chuckling as their colleagues led Cantrell out of the courtroom about 4:15 p.m. to write him up.
Cantrell was not working as a city attorney when he lost the joint, said Ryan Berni, a spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office. He was suspended without pay pending an investigation, Berni said.
Cantrell could not be reached afterward. He has practiced civil and criminal law in New Orleans for 17 years, including six as a public defender in Juvenile Court.
His wife, LaToya Cantrell, is a candidate for the District B seat on the City Council.
The City Council in late 2010 made pot possession a municipal offense, allowing police to issue a summons rather than arrest and book an offender on state charges.
The City Attorney's Office, which normally prosecutes municipal cases, has recused itself in Cantrell's new pot case, Berni said.
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| Cementhead |
posted by Clare L. Pieuk at 8:58 PM
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