Why a New Orleans shooting victim testifies for the defense | Dishes

The victim of a brazen 2018 gun attack in Algiers told a jury in Orleans Parish this week that police did something wrong when he argued with a prosecutor and then hugged one of the men accused of trying to to kill him.

“I wanted to move on with my life. I accepted it. I let it go and forgave whoever did it,” Corey Juluke testified Thursday about a bloody ambush with an assault rifle in heavy afternoon traffic on Gen. De Gaulle Drive.

Juluke, 53, claimed he saw who shot him on May 24, 2018 as he jumped out of his truck and ran under fire – and that it wasn’t Dermell Lewis.

“I’m running for my life. I saw who shot me and it wasn’t Dermell Lewis. This is my story. The victim,” Juluke said. “I’ve known Dermell for 35 years.”

Prosecutors say DNA, surveillance video, license plate reader data and Juluke’s own words prove otherwise. In a trial that begins next week, they seek to convict Lewis, 46, and Corey Major, 50, for what they describe as an assassination attempt in which the victim provided little assistance.

“You forced me here,” Juluke told Assistant Attorney General Daniel Smart as he reluctantly began his testimony.

Roads vs. State

Prosecutors were not surprised that he testified in favor of the defense. Two years ago, they obtained a warrant for Juluke’s arrest, with the aim of forcing Juluke to take the witness stand if it would mean his imprisonment, only to temporarily drop the case.

“I don’t try to live like that,” Juluke testified Thursday. “I am the victim.”

Prosecutors suggested to jurors that his reluctance to testify was due to his criminal past.

Lewis and Juluke were once known drug dealers in downtown New Orleans who were accused of distributing cocaine and heroin in kilo quantities throughout the Sixth and Seventh Wards until police caught them individually in the early morning hours, records show.

Now, after years in federal prison, they returned to court as middle-aged men for an attack in which Juluke was shot in the calf, arm and buttocks, he testified.

Juluke said he jumped from his truck after the first shots and ran across the neutral ground as at least one gunman fired from a spinning truck, then drove off again toward the Crescent City Connection. At this point, Juluke had already jumped into another vehicle while the driver fled in fear.

According to prosecutors, surveillance cameras caught Lewis, Major and others loading a Dodge Ram with weapons before firing 19 shots from an assault rifle and four shots from a .40-caliber handgun, hitting Juluke and wounding another person.

A few moments later, Juluke allegedly told a witness: “If I die, say my brother Slim shot me.”

“This is my story”

The indictment describes “Slim” as a nickname for Lewis, who was picked up in Georgia several months later and has been free since 2019 on a $1.3 million bond that authorities struggled to revoke. Court records show Major also remains free on $1 million bond.

On Thursday, Juluke insisted he spread “Slim.” The nickname could apply to anyone, he said, including prosecutor Smart, whom he called “Big Slim” from the witness stand.

“It’s a figure of speech. This is something black. We’re all shouting, ‘What’s wrong, Slim,'” Juluke said.

Prosecutors have evaded a motive. According to police records, the shooting occurred four days after Lewis’ nephew, Brandon Lewis, was found dead at age 30, face down in a driveway at the fairgrounds.

At that time, federal drug agents and a multi-agency gang unit in New Orleans surrounded a group called the Young Gunners, or 7th Ward Savages, according to a police report. NOPD investigators and federal agents monitored Brandon Lewis’ funeral and arrested Dermell Lewis and Major together.

They also looked inside a Lewis family home in Baton Rouge and checked businesses from Texas to Georgia that they believed were connected to Lewis, who was picked up in Georgia after what authorities described as a five-month manhunt.

Deputy Attorney General Alex Calenda called the Algiers shooting a “gangland attack.” Lewis was wearing body armor and a green and purple Gents hat, which was later found at the scene with his DNA on it, the prosecutor said.

“That green hat is worth 2.1 trillion words,” Calenda told the jury, referring to an analysis of the likelihood that Lewis had worn it.

He said license plate readers and a witness helped authorities also link the crime to Major through the exchange of dealer license plates that were assigned to a car sales company he owns.

“Don’t do any of that.”

Lewis and Major are each charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, obstruction of justice and illegal shooting. Lewis is also charged with illegal possession of body armor in a case that was arduous to try.

The delays also included a change in prosecutors. District Attorney Jason Williams represented Major as defense attorney. His office withdrew from the case after Williams took office in 2021. A judge was subsequently dismissed from the case.

Juluke always claimed that he did not see Lewis shoot him, said Lewis’ attorney Gregory Carter. He told the jury that Lewis was not hiding in Georgia before his arrest, but that he was living there.

“Nobody ever looked at the video and said, ‘That’s Dermell,'” Carter said in his opening statement. “For six years, (Juluke) has had the opportunity to come forward and say, ‘This is the man who shot me.’ But… every time he was asked about it, he insisted it was not Mr. Dermell Lewis.”

From the witness stand, Juluke repeated the same denial to Major, adding: “Shit, we all come from the same neighborhood.”

Juluke rose slowly after his testimony, stretching his lanky frame before stepping back from the witness stand. As he passed the defense table, Lewis stood up and the two men hugged.

“Sorry. Sorry. “We’re not doing any of that,” Judge Rhonda Goode-Douglas said as Juluke left the courtroom.

The trial continues on Monday.