The following was submitted by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Louisiana Attorney
Disciplinary Board should investigate the Orleans Parish District
Attorney’s Office for issuing fake subpoenas that threatened witnesses
with fines and jail time to coerce them into answering prosecutors’
questions – actions that violate rules of professional conduct,
according to a complaint the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed with the board today.
An investigation is
needed to determine the scope of the practice and to hold the lawyers
involved accountable for violations of the Louisiana Rules of
Professional Conduct, which forbid lawyers from engaging in deception,
according to the complaint. The filing notes that District Attorney Leon
Cannizzaro has admitted that his office had engaged in the practice
since 2009, but has refused to divulge which assistant district
attorneys were also involved.
If the board finds that violations occurred, it could recommend
probation, admonition or the filing of formal charges against Cannizzaro
or the attorneys under his leadership who used the fake subpoenas.
“District attorneys have almost unchecked discretion in our criminal
justice system,” said Lisa Graybill, SPLC deputy legal director. “As
Louisianans work to reform the state’s criminal justice system and shed
the title of incarceration capital of the world, district attorneys must
be held accountable when they abuse the public’s trust.
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