NEW ORLEANS – A defense attorney says New Orleans prosecutors secured a murder indictment against a man on the eve of his funeral, 10 days after he died in his sleep.
John Fuller, who previously served as a lawyer for the late Steven "Shaq" Burns Jr., told multiple media outlets that his client's indictment Thursday by an Orleans Parish grand jury was a troubling affront to the man's grieving relatives.
A spokesman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office says prosecutors weren't informed of Burns' March 20 death before the indictment. The spokesman says the case against Burns will be dropped once his death is confirmed.
The indictment charged Burns with second-degree murder and conspiracy in the September 2011 killing of a man working as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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