Monday, September 08, 2014

Sympathy for the devil

Judge reduces sentence for Nagin-era technology vendor St. Pierre

I'm ok with this.  I really am.  I'm happy for the St. Pierre family.

St. Pierre getting 17 1/2 years in the pokey as opposed to Nagin's ten years makes no sense.

I sat through most of St. Pierre's and Nagin's trials as well as their sentencings.

Judge Berrigan's diatribe during the Nagin sentence felt like a bipolar rant.  It was excusatory at times and  hard for me to swallow knowing that only a small faction of Nagin's transgressions had been addressed in that nauseating trial.

Granted, Judge Berrigan probably didn't know what I know but at one point in his sentencing she went so far off the reservation as to suggest he "fought for the city in the wake of Katrina."  (that's paraphrased but the notion is hilarious nonetheless)

By the time Mitch Landrieu took over the city was at least 60 million in debt and MWH was running the show and billing by the hour.  To suggest Nagin did anything that helped the city in the wake of Katrina is a stretch.

She must have been reading DC while I was reading Marvel.

Nagin's sentencing was in stark contrast to Judge Fallon's sentencing of St. Pierre.  What I gleaned from Fallon's sentence was that Mark was unrepentant, he refused to admit guilt, and that pissed Fallon off.  It pissed me off too.

I knew the entire time that St. Pierre was just paying whoever Meffert told him to pay but the fact that he was standing in court claiming he was innocent was repulsive.

The hubris enraged me.

Then I watched Ray Nagin in court.  That trial pushed the bar down to even lower depths.    

Perhaps it was simply theater but if we're judging men by their psychopathy....Ray Nagin deserved twice the sentence Mark St. Pierre did.  I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again...Ray Nagin is pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for anything.  I think Mark St. Pierre is capable of that...he just became legally isolated on the other side of Meffert and Nagin by Mr. Fed.

Responsibility?  Being held accountable?  While we're on the subject, I really want to know how Ed Burns and George Solomon were never charged with bribery.

How does Ray Nagin get charged with bribery while SOME of the assholes who bribed him don't get charged?

Can anyone on Poydras Street, past or present, give me an answer?

I brought this issue up to a reporter at the Nagin trial and the reply was "Now is not the time to address it." An odd answer but ok, when is the time to address it?  The appeal?

And what I'm really curious about.....Winvestco....

2 comments:

Political Shitblaster said...

Why did the other guys not get charged?

It's not too hard to figure out. They lawyered up, their attorneys had some stroke or were able to create reasonable doubt for the prosecutors.

The Justice Department likes to win every time. They don't shoot unless they're sure the fish is in the barrel with no chance of escape. If Solomon, et al, were able to get off, it would have made them look bad. Hence the likelihood of caution on the part of the Justice Department. They'd rather have a 100% conviction rate.

In addition, we can't rule out the possibility of secret cooperation, via attorneys, in exchange for no prosecution. While possible, I think the "not a slam dunk" rule was the more likely explanation. It's also the same explanation for why Nagin's sons were never charged.

I'm sure Solomon also has plenty of cash for the best attorneys around.

Anonymous said...

Wondering if Fradella is ever sentenced. His date has been pushed back so many times. Fradella already caught a monstrous break by not getting hit with a bank fraud case in the tens of millions that was a layup for the DOJ.