TheAgitator.com
In the May Issue of Reason: My Story on the Colomb Family
Monday, March 31st, 2008In the May issue of reason–which should be hitting newsstands any day now–I have a long feature about the Colomb family in Church Point, Louisiana. It’s a long story with some twists and turns, but the gist is that in 2006, 57-year-old Ann Colomb and three of her sons were convicted in federal court of conspiracy for running would would have been the largest Louisiana crack operation outside of New Orleans. The evidence against the family was three incidents stemming from nearly 10 years of harassment of the family by racist local sheriff’s deputies, a raid which turned up contraband immediately claimed by another party, and the testimony of a parade of jail house informants called by the federal prosecutor in the case.
To believe the federal government, you’d have to buy the idea that this working class family living in a modest, one-story bungalow was buying $500,000 worth of crack cocaine per week over the course of several years. The total street value of the drugs was somewhere around $70 million.
All that time, the Colomb boys were working backbreaking construction jobs, going to school, and in one case, getting up a 3am to collect garbage, while also earning a college degree.
The case fell apart when several inmates came forward to reveal an information sharing network inside the federal prison system. Inmates were selling one another photos, case facts, and even grand jury testimony about pending cases, then calling up federal prosecutors offering to testify in exchange for time off of their own drug sentences. “Hey, Mr. Prosecutor, I sold that family drugs, too! What can you give me?”
In the Colomb case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Grayson had 31 jail house snitches ready to testify that they had sold drugs to Ann Colomb and her sons. They were lying.
The charges against the Colomb family were eventually dropped and dismissed with prejudice, but not until the family had served four months in prison, spent their savings on their defense, and had the threat of spending their lives in prison hung over their heads for more than five years.
Sadly, the odds of the family getting compensated for their ordeal are long. The only logical party for them to sue is the U.S. Attorney’s Office and, by extension, the federal government. Unfortunately, prosecutors have almost complete immunity from civil rights suits.
Even after all of this came out, federal prosecutors attempted to use some of the same jail house witnesses in yet another conspiracy case. The Colomb case and all the baggage around it is an absolute outrage, and is illustrative of the problem with using testimony bartered from jail house informants. The incentives don’t just make lying possible, they out and out demand it. The federal judge in the case was so upset by what happened in his courtroom he actually agreed to give me an on-the-record interview, and is quoted in the article. That almost never happens.
The Colomb case sits at the troubling nexus of drug war excess, lingering racism, and the convict-at-all-costs mentality too prevelant among some federal prosecutors. If you don’t have a subscription to reason, well, first get one. Then head down to the newsstand to pick up the May issue.
Here are some photos I took when I was in Louisiana to whet your appetite:
Thank you, Radley. This is a terrible story and I’m glad you found it.
Do you know why they were targeted?
Wow. On a side note, is the name ‘Colomb’ pronounced like a French word? Feel I should be able to say more than ‘a family in Louisiana…’
wow. that story sends chills down my spine.
[...] I was reading a post that Radley wrote over at The Agitator about the Colomb Family. And I noticed something in particular that really worried [...]
R-Balk,
Is it possible to do with bad prosecutions what you did for police raids gone wrong?
An Overkill for the Allgoods, Nifongs, Buchannons, and Grayson’s out there?
Seems like the motto of law enforcement is changing from “to serve and protect” to “it’s us against you”.
“Wow. On a side note, is the name ‘Colomb’ pronounced like a French word? Feel I should be able to say more than ‘a family in Louisiana…’”
Yes. My best attempt at phonetics is cuh-LOME.
On my own side note - Radley, your cajun namesake’s family is from Church Point. There are Savoies aplenty in that little town. What a heartbreaking story. Thank you for your work.
This is exactly why I advocate that laws need to be changed to protect the citizens from a tyrannical government. Police, prosecutors, and judges should all be able to be sued. With this possibility, I’m sure their behavior will change to a large degree. The idea of immunity causes them to DESTROY people’s lives, and they get to go home at night and laugh about it! Some cases aren’t as blatant as this one, but cops, prosecutors, and judges were all complicit in destroying this family’s lives. They all KNEW what they were doing, it’s so blatantly obvious when you read the facts.
It just hit me … I thought citizens were to be protected from a tyrannical government by this thing called the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Guess that only happens when it’s followed. It didn’t go far enough, in my opinion …
Prosecutors and cops will only change their behavior when they fear for their own lives. Not a threat, just an observation.
Skip: a long time ago in Usenet, there was a regular poster whose sig-line read: “This will only stop when the cost-collection ratio reaches 1-1.” He was regarded as a kook by all the usual-suspect types — including law & order conservatives and nanny-state commies — but I always said he was right.
I still do.
“…illustrative of the problem with using testimony bartered from jail house informants.”
Is a defense attorney allowed to raise doubts about a witness’s credibility in such a situation. I’m guessing not.
I am interested in finding a way to help the Colomb family after this tragedy. Is there a charity that is working on their behalf? I can work to raise funds for them if I can find (or start) the appropriate way to help. Thank you.