Inmate from Metairie sues governor, Jefferson Parish DA, over new informant law

Craig Parent main.jpg
Craig Parent, 51, of Metairie, has sued Gov. Bobby Jindal and Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr., for their parts in enacting a law that allows some inmates to shorten their prison sentences in exchange for the "substantial assistance" they provide in unrelated criminal investigations. Parent, who is serving a life sentence in prison as a career criminal, claims the law violates the state constitution. The case is filed in the 24th Judicial District Court. (JPSO)
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on December 30, 2013 at 5:07 PM, updated December 30, 2013 at 5:44 PM

A Metairie man serving a life sentence in prison as a habitual offender is challenging a new state law that lets judges reduce convicts' sentences in exchange for the "substantial assistance" they provide in unrelated criminal investigations. Craig Parent, 51, asserts that the law, which originated in Jefferson Parish, violates the Louisiana Constitution's separation of powers doctrine. The authority to modify sentences, Parent says, belongs to the executive branch -- not the judicial branch.

Parent names as defendants Gov. Bobby Jindal and Jefferson District Attorney Paul Connick Jr., whose office modeled the state law on a federal statute. The Louisiana attorney general's office will represent the state in the case, as it automatically is involved in constitutional challenges. Connick was not immediately available for comment Monday.

It's unclear what motivated Parent to file the suit, which he did at 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna without assistance of a lawyer. He is being held at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel. His suit says he's acting on behalf of the state of Louisiana.

Parent appears to have borrowed his legal argument from his own attempts in recent years at having his life sentence reduced.

In July, 24th District Judge Lee Faulkner ruled he lacked the authority to commute Parent's sentence. Faulkner cited a 2007 Louisiana Supreme Court decision, State vs. Dick, that says such modifications must be made through the state Parole Board or Pardon Board, both of which fall under the executive branch of government. The state 5th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld Faulkner's ruling Dec. 13.

Parent's convictions include a slew of petty crimes, such as forgery and writing bad checks. He pleaded guilty in 1997 to bad-check charges, and he says the plea agreement called for three of those charges to be dismissed.

Prosecutors dispute that portion of the agreement existed and prosecuted him for the crimes. He pleaded guilty to those charges and was given a three-year prison sentence. Those felonies factored into his being ruled a career criminal, after he was convicted of witness intimidation, extortion, burglary and other property crimes.

He was sentenced in 2002 to life in prison as a habitual offender, and he's been fighting the punishment ever since, according to court records. 

Court records do not indicate whether Parent has sought release under the "substantial assistance" law. It's unclear how many inmates have been released from prison under the law, which Jindal signed in 2011. In a letter to a reporter, Parent says he will determine the number of inmates released through his lawsuit.

The first person to benefit from the law was John Ballay, 53, a Mandeville resident who, like Parent, was sentenced to life in prison in Jefferson Parish under the state's habitual offender law. Ballay's history includes about 120 arrests for petty crimes, and the felony conviction that led to his life sentence stemmed from a crime at a Kmart store in Metairie.

But Ballay walked out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola as a free man in 2012, after Connick asked a 24th District judge to reduce the life sentence to the 15 years he'd already served. In using the "substantial assistance" law, Connick's office cited the help Ballay provided authorities in various investigations, including persuading two prostitutes to testify against alleged serial killer Russell Ellwood, leading to his murder conviction.

Ballay's freedom was short lived. He got into trouble again April 4, when Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office vice detectives booked him with pandering after accusing him of driving a prostitute to meet a client at Metairie motel, records show.

Ballay has had a warrant pending for his arrest since Oct. 29, because he didn't show up for court in the pandering case.

Parent did not name Ballay as a defendant, and it's unclear whether they know each other. But Parent speaks poorly of the former lifer in the civil lawsuit.

Jindal and Connick, Parent alleges, "caused the illicit release of a known crack user," who will lure "daddy's little girl(s), entice them into crack use and becoming crack prostitutes for the rest of their shortened lives."

All 16 judges of the 24th District Court have removed themselves from presiding over Parent's suit, because the bench is named in the lawsuit, according to the recusal order. The state Supreme Court on Dec. 18 appointed Donald Fendlason, a retired St. Tammany Parish judge, to oversee the case.