Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has failed in his attempt to avoid trial on corruption charges. A federal judge refused to dismiss the 21-count indictment.
Nagin wanted the case dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct. Top prosecutors in the New Orleans US Attorney’s Office lost their jobs after it surfaced they posted anonymous comments about their own cases on a news website.
Those comments resulted in a new trial ordered by another judge for five former police officers involved in shooting unarmed civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
But the judge hearing Nagin’s motion backed a lower-court decision that said careful questioning of potential jurors would screen out any influences from inappropriate online posts.
Nagin is accused of taking bribes from contractors in exchange for city business. His trial is scheduled to begin at the end of this month.