Broken Justice; Casualties Of Hurricane Katrina

    March 1, 2007
    ABC News: World News With Charles Gibson
    By Steve Osunsami

    (Off-camera) We have a story, tonight, about one of the casualties of Katrina, the justice system in New Orleans. It was troubled before the hurricane and then the storm destroyed courthouses, washed away records, and drove defense lawyers out of town, never to return. The cumulative effect has been disastrous. Here's ABC's Steve Osunsami.

    GRAPHICS: MAP OF LOUISIANA

    GRAPHICS: BROKEN JUSTICE

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Voiceover) 32-year-old Iben O'Neal languished in a New Orleans jail for a year and a half and never saw a lawyer, a judge, or the inside of a courtroom.

    IBEN O'NEAL (VICTIM)

    I actually felt like I wasn't going to get out. I was, I was lost.

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Voiceover) He was arrested May 19th, 2005 on a charge related to simple drug possession. He was still in jail three months later when Katrina flooded the courts and the rest of the city. He finally walked out in November of last year after a group of young lawyers discovered his records and convinced the judge to release him.

    IBEN O'NEAL (VICTIM)

    There are a lot of people been in there a couple of years, man, and never been to court.

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Voiceover) A study commissioned by the Justice Department says it all. People who wait in jail with no charges, trials that cannot take place even for defendants who wish to plead guilty. Pam Metzger runs the law clinic that represents O'Neal and has helped free nearly a thousand other similar defendants who were lost in the system.

    PROFESSOR PAMELA METZGER (TULANE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL)

    Think about trying to call the court and write the court and say, 'When am I coming to court?" And there's no answer because no phone picks up. There's no phones. There were no phones.

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Off-camera) That's still the case, somewhat, to this day?

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Voiceover) Most of the public defenders who once lived here have not returned. Brian Privor is a corporate attorney from Washington who's here to help.

    BRIAN PRIVOR (ATTORNEY

    People's liberty is at stake. And when you are locking people away without caring whether they're getting the most basic level of justice, I mean, you are not only un-American, I mean, it's inhumane.

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Off-camera) There is very little money for public defenders, but the parish spent $5 million building this temporary jail behind me. The parish also requested an additional $57 million to rebuild this facility back to its pre-Katrina size.

    STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS)

    (Voiceover) Iben O'Neal, who still faces trial, says the city doesn't need any more jails, it needs more justice. Steve Osunsami, ABC news, New Orleans.



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