On June 5, 2025, DERRICK HINES, a 52-year-old resident of New Orleans, entered a guilty plea for being a felon in possession of a firearm, as announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the plea took place before U.S. District Judge Nanette Jolivette Brown, setting the stage for sentencing on October 9.
The details of the case emerged from court documents, revealing that on September 28, 2023, officers from the New Orleans Police Department discovered DERRICK HINES in possession of a firearm during an investigation into a separate shooting incident. Previously convicted of a felony, HINES was in violation of federal law for carrying the weapon. Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson acknowledged the efforts of the New Orleans Police Department in digging into the matter as they were probing the shooting.
HINES now faces a maximum penalty of fifteen years imprisonment and a fine that could stretch up to $250,000. The prosecution, led by Assistant United States Attorney Richard R. Pickens, II of the Financial Crimes Unit, will also likely include up to three years of supervised release and a mandatory special assessment fee of one hundred dollars alongside the main sentence.
This case is a fragment of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a sweeping program that unites law enforcement at every level with the communities they watch over. Since its reinforcement through a Department initiative on May 26, 2021, the program aims to curb violent crime and gun violence, creating safer spaces within neighborhoods. It underwrites strategies such as supporting community organizations aiming to prevent violence, fostering trust within communities, prioritizing enforcement strategically, and closely tracking results, in uncovering HINES holding a firearm illegally.
Project Safe Neighborhoods and its ambitious goals to drive down violence resonate through prosecutions such as that of HINES, stressing the Department of Justice's commitment to removing illegal firearms from the hands of felons. With the sentencing date for HINES set for the coming fall, the New Orleans community waits as the justice system concludes yet another chapter in its ongoing battle against crime.
