Plea Expected In Benchmark N.O. Violence Case

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man charged with gunning down five teenagers in New Orleans is expected to plead no-contest to state manslaughter charges, resolving a case that stunned the city and highlighted its surge in violence after Hurricane Katrina. Michael Anderson, 24, pleaded guilty on Friday in U.S. District Court in a separate case charging drug, murder and conspiracy. His plea deal calls for him to serve a life prison sentence and to plead no-contest on Monday in state District Court to five counts of manslaughter in the June 2006 slayings in the Central City neighborhood. Anderson's attorney, Richard Bourke, said his client maintains he is innocent of the killings despite his expected no-contest plea. He pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in the unrelated July 2005 murder of Ronnie Meade.