Two weeks ago Jermaine Surtain was arrested and accused of breaking into Puglia’s Sporting Goods on New Year’s Day and stealing over 100 guns.

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Last year, more than 3,000 defendants were 701 released, up from about 1,100 in 2004.

But it was not the first time he’d seen the inside of a jail. Just two days before his arrest, the Orleans District Attorney’s office dropped a “possession of heroin” case against him from last summer. Had he not bonded out a few weeks before, he would have been released from prison automatically.

Criminals call it D.A.’s time. The Louisiana constitution calls it Article 701: the right to a speedy trial. It says the D.A.’s office has 60 days to build a case; otherwise anyone arrested on a felony charge must be released from prison. If they are out on bond, the D.A.’s office has 90 days.

Last year, more than 3,000 defendants were 701 released, up from about 1,100 in 2004.

The D.A.’s office pointed to the New Orleans Police Crime Lab as one of the main reasons defendants are being released.

They said without forensic evidence, such as the heroin in Germaine Surtain's case, there's no way they can go to trial.

The entire crime lab was destroyed during Katrina, leaving investigators scrambling to other parishes’ labs to analyze evidence.

D.A. officials said it often takes too long, and has caused the surge in 701 releases.

Police said they could better keep up if they knew suspects were about to be released.

“If they give us a head's up of what cases are coming up and perhaps are in jeopardy of being released because of not having reports, the crime analysis on drug cases, we can prioritize those and bump those up to make sure those cases are analyzed,” said NOPD spokesperson Joe Narcisse.

Magistrate Judge Gerard Hansen is no stranger to the 701 release, and he said in the first 19 days of 2007, in his court alone there have been 324 of them, including two murder suspects.

“It looks bad on paper.  And it is bad because we don't have an option.  We have to release people in that time limit. The law is very clear,” said Hansen, who blames the lack of priority given to repairing the criminal justice system post-Katrina.

Hansen said the solution is money and will.

“If we could get the criminal justice system up and running, we could probably reduce that by at least 75 percent. But at some point along the way, we're going to have to look at the individual agencies and point the finger in the right direction. I'm not ready to say that they're at fault without cause. But it's not the court that's causing the revolving door; it's the lack of action that's causing the revolving door.”

A spokesperson for the D.A.’s office said prosecutors can re-file charges against suspects once they get the complete police reports, and that 90 percent of their 701 releases are for drug charges. Police officials said they hope to be able to transition into a new crime lab in a few months, but said there were no solid plans yet.