Convicted murderer Derrick Groves eludes law enforcement as last New Orleans jail escapee on the run
Groves faces life imprisonment without parole, but administrative delays have kept him in jail for years rather than a more secure prison facility.
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
'He's got nothing to lose,' said Forrest Ladd, an Orleans Parish assistant district attorney who prosecuted Groves. 'That's a dangerous thing from anybody, much less somebody capable of causing mass harm.'
How likely is it Groves will be recaptured?
More than 90% of people who escape from U.S. correctional facilities are recaptured within a year, said Bryce Peterson, adjunct professor of criminal justice at John Jay College.
'The longer you are out there, the more likely you are to stay out,' said Peterson, though he believes Groves will be caught eventually due to the high level of media attention.
Most escapes occur when low-level offenders seize spontaneous opportunities, Peterson said. The New Orleans jailbreak stands out because of its level of 'sophistication and pre-planning' and the alleged roles current and former jail employees played in the escape, he added.
Advertisement
How has Groves avoided law enforcement for so long?
Multiple defense attorneys who have worked with Groves described him as intelligent and polite. Prosecutors in his cases say he is violent, manipulative and remorseless.
'He's the worst human being I've ever come across in my life,' said Ladd, the Orleans Parish assistant district attorney. 'But he is a very charismatic, and I think that allows him the ability to kind of control people.'
A former jail employee who became Groves' girlfriend during his incarceration is accused of helping him coordinate the escape in advance by arranging phone calls that avoided the jail's monitoring system. She is one of at least 16 people — many family members of the escapees — facing charges for providing transport, food, shelter and cash to the fugitives, most of whom stayed within New Orleans.
Several days after the escape, authorities received information that Groves was hiding in the city's Lower Ninth Ward, the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged neighborhood where he grew up, according to court documents.
State and federal authorities declined to provide details on Groves' suspected whereabouts. Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Robert Hodges indicated he believes Groves is receiving assistance from friends or family.
'Sometimes we think we are incredibly close,' Hodges said during a June 27 news conference, adding that authorities would arrive at a location to find a fugitive 'just moved because they have help.'
There is a $50,000 reward for tips leading to Groves' recapture.
Mistrust in the criminal justice system
Likely impeding the search for Groves is widespread skepticism toward law enforcement from city residents following decades of abuse, often against the Black community. In 1994, a corrupt police officer ordered the killing of Groves' grandmother, Kim Groves, after she reported him for beating up a teenager. Her three children settled a federal civil rights lawsuit with the city for $1.5 million in 2018.
Advertisement
'For my family, it's been like reliving a constant nightmare,' Groves' aunt, Jasmine Groves, told WDSU, saying the family has been interrogated and remains under law enforcement surveillance. She has urged her nephew to turn himself in.
Groves' mother and aunt did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment for this story.
In 2014, at the age of 17, Groves was arrested and incarcerated for nearly two years on a charge of attempted second-degree murder for which he was later acquitted by a jury, though his own father had testified against him, according to court records and a prosecutor in the case, Mike Trummel.
Tom Shlosman, Groves' defense attorney in that case, said that Groves' prolonged incarceration as a teenager and his grandmother's murder likely undermined his faith in the criminal justice system. Shlosman remembered Groves as 'young and scared.'
'None of that's going to affect a kid in any positive way,' Shlosman said. 'And it's certainly not going to instill trust in law enforcement.'
A series of killings
Groves, who goes by 'Woo,' dropped out of school in ninth grade and sold heroin in the Lower Ninth Ward for years, according to court records. The FBI began monitoring his social media while he was still a teenager, and Groves pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in 2019.
Groves has been in jail since at least 2019, after his involvement in four killings during an 18-month period.
In October 2024, a jury convicted Groves of second-degree murder for using an assault rifle to spray dozens of bullets into a family block party on Mardi Gras, killing 21-year-old Byron Jackson and 26-year-old Jamar Robinson and wounding several others.
Advertisement
Groves later pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in two separate shootings, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office.
Eyewitnesses in cases involving Groves have been threatened and physically attacked by him, and others were so intimidated they refused to testify against him, according to three current and former prosecutors and court records.
In court, Robinson's aunt, Janis Robinson, said she had cried every night since her nephew died: 'I don't know how we are going to get through it.'
In response, records show, Groves swore repeatedly at her in court.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
14 hours ago
- UPI
On This Day, July 27: Rep. Lewis lies in state in U.S. Capitol
1 of 5 | On July 27, 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. Robespierre, who encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the revolution, was himself guillotined the following day. In 1909, Orville Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin -- a hormone they believed could prevent diabetes -- for the first time. In 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950. File Photo courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum In 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37th president resigned less than two weeks later. In 1986, Greg LeMond, 25, of Sacramento, became the first American to win cycling's most famous contest, the Tour de France. In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 82 people, four of them on the ground. In 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people. In 2012, the Summer Olympics opened in London, with 10,820 athletes representing 204 countries. In 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer. In 2021, Carissa Moore of the United States and Italo Ferreira of Brazil took home the inaugural gold medals in surfing at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. In 2024, Team USA won its first gold medal of the Paris Summer Olympics with a first-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay. Swimmers Jack Alexy, Hunter Armstrong, Caeleb Dressel and Chris Guiliano pushed the relay team to victory. File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI
Axios
a day ago
- Axios
Prison debt is crushing Black women, advocates say
Nearly all states allowing jails and prisons to charge incarcerated people for room and board or medical care highlights a deeper problem: their families, especially Black women, are forced to cover the costs, according to a new report. Why it matters: Black people account for about 37% of the local jail and state prison population, according to Prison Policy Initiative, and the debt caused by the incarceration fees may be pushing women of color deeper into poverty. The big picture: When incarcerated individuals can't pay — and most can't — the debt is passed to a loved one or follows them after release. In some states, advocates say that debt collectors or probation officers send letters demanding full repayment within 30 days. And taxpayers can wind up footing the bill for costly legal pursuits that don't result in payments. By the numbers: Data collected by the advocacy group Campaign Zero, reviewed by Axios earlier this month, shows: As of December 2024, 48 states allow at least one "pay-to-stay" fee. 42 states and D.C. permit room and board charges for incarcerated adults. 43 states permit medical fees for incarcerated adults. Zoom in: Fees are automatically pulled from prison accounts or wages. But most incarcerated people earn less than $1/day, according to data from the Prison Policy Initiative, so balances grow — and carry into life after release. Because many incarcerated people can't fully pay fees while in prison, the costs often pile up as debt they're still expected to repay after their release, Campaign Zero executive director DeRay Mckesson told Axios. Zoom out: Research compiled by the advocacy group Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC) shows that women — especially Black women — are disproportionately harmed by these policies. 83% of those paying fines, fees, and bail for incarcerated people are women, according to a national survey. Women's wages drop more post-conviction than men's — $75/year vs. $26. Black mothers are three times more likely than white mothers to be their family's sole provider. What they're saying: "We were the first to put this issue on the map — people were talking about mass incarceration, but no one was talking about families having their college funds and inheritances seized," said Brittany Friedman, a USC sociologist who leads the Captive Money Lab and was a consultant on the Campaign Zero project. Friedman said her team analyzed hundreds of civil lawsuits and found a "repeat pattern" of states seizing jointly held assets — including college savings and shared inheritances — if an incarcerated person's name was on the account. "In most cases, it drains the account completely," she said, noting the court will seize any account with the incarcerated person's name on it — even if it's a college fund or a shared inheritance. Context: Many pay-to-stay laws date back to the 1970s, as states such as Michigan and California sought to shift the costs of incarceration off public budgets. The trend grew in the 1980s, after federal funding cuts under President Reagan, as states began charging incarcerated people for court-appointed counsel, supervision, meals and phone calls. Instead of taxing the public, lawmakers began extracting money from the people being policed and prosecuted, in the form of fees for public defenders, probation supervision, phone calls, and even meals. "They weren't designed to promote safety or rehabilitation," said Nick Shepack, Nevada director for the FFJC. "They were designed to cut budgets — and they still are." Yes, but: Some states argue that these fees help cover the costs of victim restitution or public services. But many are imposed even in victimless cases like drug possession. Friedman said in Illinois, her team found the policy often cost more to enforce than it brought in — due to labor-intensive forensic accounting, lawsuits and appeals. The intrigue: Several states are moving to roll back these fees. Oklahoma recently passed a sweeping bill eliminating many fees. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore waived $13 million in unpaid probation fees earlier this year. Nevada capped the amount that prisons can garnish from family deposits and ended post-release collections of medical debt.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Former employee sues Major League Soccer for discrimination
Major League Soccer executives undermined a black marketing director after he complained that they gave a promised promotion to a white colleague — then fired him, he claimed in a lawsuit. Cedric Shine, who began at MLS in December 2022 as a brand marketer, was fired in May after months of poor treatment from top bosses at the soccer league, he said in a July 18 Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit. Shine, 41, said he was told he was about to be given a new job as senior director of marketing for the league when new direct supervisors were installed in February. 3 Cedric Shine was hired by Major League Soccer in 2022. Cedric D. Shine/ LinkedIn But days later, the new bosses reversed course, he said in court papers. 'The decision to block Shine's promotion came mere weeks after Shine's new supervisors terminated one of the few Black Directors in the Marketing Department, Justin Cox,' according to the lawsuit. The higher level job was instead given to 'a Caucasian MLS Marketing Director,' Shine said in the legal filing. When he complained to MLS' human resources department about the move, 'and its racial implications,' Shine was promoted 'over his supervisors' objections' — triggering a 'campaign of retaliation against him,' he claimed. Bosses berated him, lied about him showing up late for work, slashed his marketing budget and would abruptly leave events he organized, leaving MLS corporate partners and MLS executives 'in attendance to question why marketing leadership was leaving the event and reflected extremely poorly on Shine,' he said in the litigation. 3 Shine claims he was the target of retaliation at work. Cedric D. Shine/ Instagram Questioning 'their views' on his performance 'would be frowned upon' and that he 'would be seen as someone who lacks the ability to accept constructive criticism,' bosses allegedly told Shine, he claimed in court papers. When other officials and MLS higher-ups ignored his complaints of retaliation, 'Shine attempted to schedule a meeting with MLS Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson, who oversaw the leadership team that had been retaliating against Shine.' Instead of a meeting with Stevenson, Shine was fired, according to the lawsuit. 3 Shine said his bosses lied about him arriving late for work. Cedric D. Shine/ Instagram 'As a proximate result of MLS' conduct, Shine has been adversely affected in his employment and career, emotional well-being, the quality of his life and in his normal life's pursuits, and Shine believes MLS' conduct … has and will continue to have a negative effect upon him.' Shine is seeking unspecified damages. The league, which has instituted anti-racism campaigns in the wake of several high profile incidents, denied Shine's accusations. 'Shine's allegations of retaliation have no merit and the League intends to vigorously defend the recently filed lawsuit,' MLS said in a statement, adding the league is committed 'to providing an equitable and inclusive environment.'
