Skip To Main Content
Heather Nolan on Muck Rack

Heather Nolan

  • Digital Content Specialist, Ochsner Health
New Orleans
As seen in: Medium, MSN UK, USA Today, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing, Adweek, U.S. News and World Report, Chron, Cleveland.com, The Plain Dealer and
Covers:  crime, courts, trends, trials, lawsuits, police brutality, local police, criminal justice
Digital content @OchsnerHealth. Former reporter. Sucker for photos of animals doing people things.
Back to Heather Nolan’s profile

Heather Nolan’s Journalist Portfolio

View as a grid

The number of SE Texas prisoners on Death Row could increase dramatically

The number of SE Texas prisoners on Death Row could increase dramatically

Beaumont Enterprise — Once known as the source of the most death row inmates per capita, Jefferson County could see a new spike in the number of prisoners awaiting execution if prosecutors ask for and get the death penalty in more than a dozen capital murder cases now awaiting trial.
Who shared?

Lawyers trying to stay Beaumont man's execution

Lawyers trying to stay Beaumont man's execution

Beaumont Enterprise — The lawyer for a Beaumont man scheduled for execution tonight plans to file a last-minute appeal in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, asking judges to review DNA found at the scene of a 1992 crime that put Marvin Lee Wilson on death row. An appeal already is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking justices to overrule lower courts' opinions that Wilson is not mentally retarded and therefore eligible for the death penalty.
Who shared?

Feud turns fatal: The facts from the courthouse shooting

Feud turns fatal: The facts from the courthouse shooting

Beaumont Enterprise — A longstanding family feud involving allegations of sexual assault of a child erupted in a "classic shootout" outside the Jefferson County Courthouse on Wednesday killing one innocent bystander and wounding three others, including the gunman's 20-year-old daughter.
Who shared?

Jasper prepares for execution of man convicted in dragging death

Jasper prepares for execution of man convicted in dragging death

Beaumont Enterprise — Never forgotten. It's a phrase many in Jasper might cringe upon hearing. The never forgotten 1998 crime - so horrific it put the East Texas timber town in a national spotlight - that involved three white men dragging a black man to his death behind an old Ford truck. But on Tuesday, the phrase was intended to offer comfort and remember the victim of that heinous crime, James Byrd Jr.
Who shared?

The city of Jasper still copes with racial tensions 13 years after dragging death

The city of Jasper still copes with racial tensions 13 years after dragging death

Beaumont Enterprise — There's a consensus in Jasper these days. Folks want to move on from the horrific events that unfolded on June 7, 1998, when a black man was dragged behind a pickup truck by three white men. But it is hard to put those ghosts to rest with racial tension once again bubbling to the surface after the hiring of the city's first black police chief in April.
Who shared?

Who is Lawrence Brewer?

Who is Lawrence Brewer?

Beaumont Enterprise — When a Brazos County jury handed Lawrence Russell Brewer a death sentence on Sept. 23, 1999, the capital murder defendant remained stoic. That reaction didn't mean he felt indifferent, Beaumont defense attorney Doug Barlow said. Brewer's defense team had told him not to react when the verdict was read. "He was disappointed, but he knew that could happen," Barlow said of the then 32-year-old Brewer. "We told him there are appeals and other processes - we always tell them that - so there isn't any major confrontation in the courtroom."
Who shared?

A visit to make sure all was right

A visit to make sure all was right

www.timesunion.com — Of the three men convicted in the hate crime, Jasper County Sheriff Billy Rowles and District Attorney Guy James Gray knew the least about Lawrence Russell Brewer. Rowles said he'd had a complaint about John William King in the past, and Shawn Allen Berry was from Jasper. The first time he heard Brewer's name was June 7, 1998.
Who shared?

Can a fall lead to a lawsuit?

Can a fall lead to a lawsuit?

Beaumont Enterprise — It's Sunday afternoon and you're on your weekly grocery store trip. A few seconds before you make the turn into the condiment aisle, a clumsy shopper knocks a jar of pickles onto the floor. You turn the corner, don't see the juice, step in it and land flat on your back. Did you just fall into a lawsuit?
Who shared?

Texas museum marks 2003 shuttle tragedy

Texas museum marks 2003 shuttle tragedy

USA Today — Eight years later and the name of the space shuttle that broke apart in the sky over Texas on re-entry and left debris scattered around the town of about 1,000 remains on the tip of everyone's tongue."They still talk about it like it was yesterday," said 65-year-old Cecelia Hetchler, sitting on a black leather stool at Lane's restaurant and grocery in Hemphill, one of the more popular hangouts in town. To mark the recent anniversary of the Columbia tragedy, Hemphill opened a museum in honor of the seven astronauts who died Feb. 1, 2003.
Who shared?

Man who shot up Covington law firm was visited by sheriff's deputies one day earlier

Man who shot up Covington law firm was visited by sheriff's deputies one day earlier

New Orleans Times-Picayune — A Slidell area man who fired at least 60 gunshots inside and outside a downtown Covington law office Tuesday afternoon before turning the pistol on himself had been visited a day earlier by St. Tammany Sheriff's Office deputies after a neighbor said he had made "disconcerting statements," authorities said Wednesday. But Roderick Rist, 47, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the law office on North Columbia Street, had not appeared to deputies to be a danger to himself or anyone else, the Sheriff's Office said.
Who shared?

Son of longtime north shore district attorney receives Tulane legislative scholarship

Son of longtime north shore district attorney receives Tulane legislative scholarship

New Orleans Times-Picayune — The son of longtime 22nd Judicial District Attorney Walter Reed has received a Tulane legislative scholarship from north shore state Rep. Harold Ritchie, records show. Ritchie, D-Franklinton, awarded Reagan Reed the scholarship for the 2013-14 school year, as well as for the previous school year. Walter Reed and Ritchie both said Reagan Reed "absolutely'' deserved the scholarship. And Ritchie said Reagan Reed's relation to the district attorney had no effect on his decision to give him the scholarship. The 22nd Judicial District includes St. Tammany and Washington parishes.
Who shared?

Retired Abita Springs Army sergeant wounded in Afghanistan to march in NYC Veterans Day parade

Retired Abita Springs Army sergeant wounded in Afghanistan to march in NYC Veterans Day parade

New Orleans Times-Picayune — Retired Army Sgt. Matthew King has come a long way since May 3, 2005, when doctors at Kandahar Air Field told him "not to freak out" if he woke up from surgery without his left leg. King, who was 19 at the time, was going into emergency surgery after a rocket-propelled grenade struck his upper left thigh during a mission in Afghanistan. The blow left a huge hole in his left leg and a scar that runs from his groin to the bottom of his knee. "At first, it didn't hurt enough for me to understand the magnitude," he said.
Who shared?

Longtime north shore DA Walter Reed has spent $627,000 in campaign funds years ahead of next elec...

Longtime north shore DA Walter Reed has spent $627,000 in campaign funds years ahead of next elec...

New Orleans Times-Picayune — Although he has yet to make his re-election plans known, longtime north shore District Attorney Walter Reed spent more than $627,000 in money donated to his campaign between 2009 and 2012, campaign finance reports show. That spending included $123,372 on an event at the Castine Center in Mandeville in September 2012, records on file with the Louisiana Ethics Administration show. During that period, Reed's campaign raised more than $614,000 in donations. He had just over $410,000 on hand at the end of 2008. The records also indicated Reed has paid more than $56,000 since 2006 to a company in which he and his son, Steven Reed, are officers.
Who shared?

Inmate's IQ becomes an issue in execution appeal

Inmate's IQ becomes an issue in execution appeal

Houston Chronicle — In his appeal already before the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Lee Kovarsky asked justices to overrule lower courts' opinions that Wilson is not mentally retarded and therefore eligible for the death penalty. "Wilson is a savvy, street-wise drug dealer and thief who exhibited skills surpassing those of a mentally retarded person from a young age," Edward Marshall, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the justices. Wilson has been on death row since 1994, but was sent back to the Jefferson County Jail in 1996 when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction, saying the prosecution improperly made personal attacks on Wilson's lawyers.
Who shared?