Ruling allows group to sue D.A.’s Office over ‘fake subpoenas’

A Nov. 7 ruling by a Louisiana appellate court has paved the way for a civil rights group to proceed with its public-records request seeking information from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.

The lawsuit, filed in May of 2017 by the New Orleans -based MacArthur Justice Center, seeks access to documents Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro has refused to turn over related to the improper use of “fake subpoenas” to compel crime victims to show up in court and testify.

The initial request for the documents that were used by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office was submitted by the MacArthur Justice Center in 2015.

According to the court record, Cannizzaro had rejected the request as too burdensome and said the Clerk of Court would have the records on file.

The issue became more complex and drew the interest of the New Orleans City Council after media reports surfaced about the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office using documents that were crafted to appear to be subpoenas that did not have court approval — documents that the Clerk of Court would not have in his possession.

The court record also said MacArthur attorney Emily Washington learned that the District Attorney’s Office did not have a policy for maintaining records on those documents.

A New Orleans court dismissed Washington’s lawsuit in the matter on procedural grounds but the state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal revived it Wednesday, sending it back to the district court in New Orleans for further proceedings.

“For over three years, we have waited for the District Attorney to provide public records documenting his use of prosecutorial subpoena power to compel people to come to his office to be interviewed and give evidence,” Jim Craig, director of the MacArthur center’s Louisiana office, said in a news release. “Now we are entitled to the records, plus damages, penalties, and attorneys’ fees for this unjustified delay.”

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office issued a statement last week that said it would evaluate the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal ruling before determining how it will proceed.

The D.A.’s Office had reportedly resorted to using what has been dubbed “fake subpoenas” because it had become increasingly difficult to get crime victims to show up in court and testify against those they accused of harming them. While the fake subpoenas carried no legal weight, the documents implied that victims and witnesses that refused to comply would suffer consequences of some kind.

Led by longtime defense attorney Jason Williams, the New Orleans City Council has blasted the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office repeatedly for refusing to turn over the requested documents to the MacArthur Justice Center.

Williams, who ran for Orleans Parish D.A. against Cannizzaro in 2006, brought up the issue again last month when he announced that he will again seek to replace the incumbent D.A. in 2020.

This article originally published in the November 12, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.