Thursday’s acquittal of David Bonds in the killing of a local musician raises a big issue about New Orleans’ criminal justice system – witness cooperation and protection.

The second-degree murder case against Bonds almost never went to trial as the DA’s office dripped the charges in June 2007 because the mother of a key witness feared for her daughter’s safety and didn’t want her to testify.

That 15-year-old girl was the same witness who would only identify Bonds in a photograph before the trial. She wouldn’t point him out in court during his trial. Two other teenage girls did ID him in court.

Still, a 12-person jury found him not guilty.

"Everyone in the courtroom throughout the week could see that they were scared,” said Nakita Shavers, the sister of the victim. “There were a lot of intimidation going on inside the courtroom and as well as what the girls were going through outside the courtroom."

Shavers worked side by side with the group Silence is Violence to reform the justice system and to encourage witnesses to speak up.

"To them, it's not an analytical situation,” said Baty Landis of Silence is Violence. “It's their lives. And it's scary. It's very, very scary."

At one point, a juror raised concerns that Bonds was intimidating the girls during their testimony.

"When he raised his hand, I knew exactly what he was raising his hand about,” Silence is Violence’s Ken Foster said, “Which was that David Bonds was intimidating the witnesses as they testified and that he was making this gesture that was like a gun on his face."

Before deliberations, that juror was dismissed, and Bonds’ attorneys said there was no truth to that allegation or rumors of other threats made to the girls after their testimony.

“All I've heard is rumors,” Bonds’ attorney William Boggs said. “All I've heard is David isn't involved in any of that.

"There was a lot of security involving this trial and the verdict on this,” Metropolitan Crime Commission spokesman Rafael Goyeneche said. “It remains to be seen what kind of outcome there will be on future cases."

Goyeneche said most New Orleans murder cases rely on witnesses to identify the killers.

"Everybody who basically put their lives in jeopardy and their families in jeopardy to get on that stand and to at the end of the day seem as if it was all for nothing…,” Goyeneche said.

So, will this case – used as an example for months – have an impact on whether future witnesses will cooperate?

"I've thought all day about what those kids are doing right now and how they're feeling and what they think happened,” Goyeneche said. "I feel like it's a tragedy all around basically."

Orleans Parish does not have a witness protection program. The DA’s office only has a victim-witness assistance program that has been helping the girls.

Goyeneche said the program needs to be improved to help keep witnesses safe and to encourage cooperation in future cases.