A rescheduled Caddo District Court hearing Wednesday, March 15, for Rodricus C. Crawford has been moved yet again, to April 26, 2017.
As with the original resetting, the move to late April is due to the movement of evidence between prosecutors with the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office, the Louisiana State Supreme Court and Crawford’s defense team, which is based in south Louisiana.
A Caddo Parish jury unanimously found Crawford guilty in November 2013 for the February 2012 death of his one-year-old son, Roderius Lott, and sentenced him to death, but in November 2016 the Louisiana Supreme Court vacated the capital conviction in Caddo District Court and ordered a new trial.
Crawford’s new date for arguments and hearing will be before Caddo District Judge Brady D. O’Callaghan.
Crawford was originally to have returned to court here February 22, as the Caddo Parish District Attorney weighs the options for recharging Crawford and scheduling a new trial, or amending charges in light of the Supreme Court decision.
Since the Supreme Court decision, Caddo Parish District Attorney James E. Stewart Sr. has ordered a fresh investigation into the Crawford case, with a district attorney assigned with no prior experience with the case, to put a new set of eyes onto evidence and procedures that had led to the original prosecution.
Crawford’s February hearing had to be rescheduled as prosecutors awaited the return of forwarded evidence from the Louisiana Supreme Court. The evidence was not returned to local prosecutors until March 3.