DA Cannizzaro on truth serum

Via AZ

You definitely gotta check this out.

It's video of our District Attorney getting all candid in an official capacity. He calls out the NOPD and his own office, tells the truth about how effed up our criminal justice system is right now.

Dude, Where's My Ordinance?

Updated

I listened live to Council testimony as DA Cannizzaro made the pitch for moving simple marijuana possession arrests out of the criminal court system. He was off-the-agenda a little bit so the matter will go before the criminal justice committee next week some time I think.

Councilman Carter asked Mr. Cannizzaro to advise him on the language necessary for a draft ordinance.

That sounds pretty damn promising if you ask me.

Why was this so impossible to do for so many years?

Update:

It look like the judges in criminal court might be stuck in the past in this one. I hope they won't obstruct this important reform.

I'm not sure what their logic is.

I would hope that a City Council ordinance mandating that possession cases be tried in municipal court could pass unanimously.

Can Anyone Verify?

Reference here.

PANO's Frank DeSalvo directed the Human Resources Committee for current District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's transition team.

Who held the equivalent position under disgraced former DA Eddie Jordan?

Frank and Leon

Observe the chronology of statements from Frank DeSalvo related to the incident at the Beach Corner and ensuing cover up discussed below.

DeSalvo has been the go-to lawyer for the Police Association of New Orleans and for pretty much any officer accused of a crime.

DeSalvo represented every officer investigated in this case.


1. From February 2008, after news of the Beach Corner dispute became public:

Frank DeSalvo, an attorney for the officers involved in the fight, disputed the assertion that racism played a role in the fight. "They want to call this racism?" he said. "Well, racism works both ways. What the (NOPD) is doing is wrong. They are taking the best of the best officers off the streets because of this. It hurts the city."

I don't really understand what he means by 'racism works both ways.' Is he saying the RTA employees are racist for filing a complaint against the officers that beat them and planted evidence? Or is he calling Riley a racist for putting the accused white officers on desk duty?

2. From April of 2009, after disciplinary action was taken against two of the officers:

Frank DeSalvo, an attorney representing Lapene, said the officer did not strike anybody during the brawl. Witnesses have wrongly identified Lapene as being involved, he said.

"It is a clear case of mistaken identity," said DeSalvo, who added that the officer plans to appeal to the Civil Service Commission. "We are very, very disappointed in the decision."

In claiming mistaken identity, isn't DeSalvo essentially saying that it must have been one of his other clients?

3. On Jennifer Samuels' suspension (she was the one who apparently took a gun from another RTA worker's car):

DeSalvo said she will eventually be cleared, and that the only mistake Samuel made was drinking off-duty and getting involved in police work.

"She stopped a violent act from happening," he said.

Again, it's not clear what DeSalvo is arguing here. Is he working off the original report that lead to Lamont Williams' arrest even though charges were immediately dropped because of contradictory statements? Or is he saying something else? The mistaken identity comment seems to be based on the premise that Williams was attacked but the Samuel defense would seem to rely on the original report, on which civilian witness David McMyne admits to lying after being coached by the police.

4. Upon release of the Public Integrity Bureau report on the incident:

The NOPD said there was insufficient evidence to sustain allegations against Ganthier, Boudreau and Jason Samuel, and they were not disciplined.

DeSalvo, the police attorney, noted Thursday that this lends credence to his assertion that the internal investigation was botched.

"When you put everything together, you'll find that the (PIB) report is a lie, " he said.

DeSalvo promised the facts of the case would come out in the officers' appeal hearings.

Here, he seems to be arguing that because three of the other officers present - and probably responsible to some degree for the fight, improper arrest of Williams, and attempts to game the police report cover up their actions - were not charged, the entire internal investigation should be thrown out.

5. Upon filing suit against the PIB:

"There were some lies involved, and they all came from the Public Integrity Bureau," DeSalvo said. "None of these officers involved in this incident were found to be untruthful."

The attorney for the accused officers said the police department's investigation is flawed and that Sgt. Darryl Watson, who conducted the investigation, may have broken the law.

"He filed a false police report," the attorney said. "They have been disseminating it. There have been repercussions to police officers because of it and now it's time for him to eat his words and we are going to feed it to him."

Setting the menacing threat aside, it's quite a stretch to say that "none of the officers involved in this incident were found to be untruthful" given how obvious it is that Mr. Lamont Williams was arrested on weapons charges without possessing a gun, a witness admitted to being coached by police to lie, and that Williams was brutalized.

I mean if it's clear that one or more of the officers took part in some serious criminal conduct - be it assault, planting evidence, or coaching a witness to lie - how can DeSalvo credibly represent all of those involved? Invariably, at least one of them did something seriously wrong.

That's not to say his representation hasn't been effective, because as we can see, it would appear as though the NOPD officers are getting off pretty much scot-free. Even Lapene landed soft with the DA and although he resigned from that job, his firing from the NOPD is still under appeal with the civil service commission.

--

I will give DeSalvo this:

That PIB report is pretty poorly written. Lots of grammar errors and clarity problems.

I can relate.

--

Mr. DeSalvo is quite close to our District Attorney, Leon Cannizzaro.

A dispatch from the DA's swearing-in:

Cannizzaro, who enjoyed a 22-year career as a judge until retiring from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal last year to run for district attorney, was treated to a lengthy, thoughtful ceremony Sunday, attended by a few hundred people, including a host of elected city and state officials.

"It looks like a coronation," campaign strategist Billy Schultz joked as he opened the ceremony, which featured a full-length program of speakers including defense attorney Frank DeSalvo; Clerk of Civil District Court Dale Atkins; state Rep. Austin Badon Jr., D-New Orleans; Magistrate Commissioner Anthony Russo; and City Council President Jackie Clarkson.

In fact, DeSalvo was a formal part of Cannizzaro's transition team.

Guess what he was in charge of?

Human resources.

Thus, it wouldn't seem to be too much of a stretch to imagine that Lapene was hired partially on the recommendation of Mr. DeSalvo. Lapene and his former unit continue to count on DeSalvo as their attorney. At the time of Lapene's hiring, a criminal investigation into the incident should have been ongoing except for the fact that Cannizzaro's office had deemed the entire matter to be a matter for civil courts a few months earlier.

Without going over the top about this, I don't think we should feel too comfortable about the close personal relationship between Mr. DeSalvo and Mr. Cannizzaro given how commonplace allegations of criminality against the police have been and given that public mistrust of the criminal justice system is a main factor contributing to the deterioration of the rule of law in this city.

Certainly a fuller explanation of why the NOPD and DA handled the Beach Corner fight the way they did is warranted, particularly as it relates to the decision to hire Mr. Lapene.

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The bar fight and the blurry blue line

Cliff wrote last week that the the NOPD has an image problem, linking to a few of the latest embarrassments.

I'd argue that the NOPD has a reality problem.

One example Cliff discussed was the fight at the Beach Corner bar.

Now, stories like this could trigger a few uncomfortable discussions about race and the police department. It could cause an officer or two to get fired or indicted. If everything in these stories is true then I think that's a good thing. At the least all of the officers involved in that bar fight should be terminated. If they can get away with lying and planting guns on innocent people then I don’t have any confidence in their capabilities to catch the guilty. If you want to eliminate the race card and conspiracy theories out of local government then you have to correct the things that make it so believable.

Cliff touches on it but let's really flesh out what's gone on here.

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1. In February, 2008, there was a fight at the Beach Corner Lounge. Lamont Williams of the RTA was arrested on weapons charges. Opposing accounts of the evening emerged a few weeks later after Williams and his coworkers retained the services of an attorney and filed a complaint.

The initial police report, compiled by the responding officers, describes the incident in detail -- and includes two starkly conflicting versions.

In one version -- told by [Hans] Ganthier, [Jason] Samuel and a 29-year-old Kenner resident -- the men disarmed Williams, taking a gun from him.

Both Ganthier and Samuel said a gun had been taken from Williams. The Kenner resident, Donald McMyne, agreed. McMyne could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to the report, the three men gave the following account:

McMyne said he was sitting at the bar and heard there was a disturbance in the men's restroom. As Lamont Williams left the restroom and walked toward the front door, McMyne was sitting on a barstool and said he told Williams to "just relax and calm down." While walking toward the front door, Williams "lifted the front of his shirt exposing a dark-colored handgun," McMyne told police.

Williams left the lounge and McMyne followed him out. Next, McMyne said, he tackled Williams from behind, and they struggled. The two off-duty officers joined in and assisted in removing the handgun from Williams, McMyne said.

Williams and his RTA coworkers told a different story.

Hagan, who is black, said he left three co-workers to use the restroom. While waiting in line, a white man walked in and skipped the line. Hagan told the line-skipper that he was next in line, and the man responded: "Oh, you getting (expletive) cocky with me?"

Hagan advised the man to "just go ahead" and left the restroom and told his co-workers they should leave. While walking out, Hagan said someone whistled and "a large group of unknown white males" approached him and his co-workers. The co-workers split up.

The men followed Hagan, Damon Tobias, 27, Williams and Kisa Holmes, 31, outside the bar and on Canal Street. After getting into his car, Hagan said, he told the group of men following him, and a woman who had joined them, that he had a gun and "if I have to use it to defend myself I will."

At that point, the unidentified woman swore at him, reached into the glove compartment of his truck and removed the handgun. Hagan said the woman then put him into "some type of arm hold" and detained him. The woman eventually released him and he went to the aid of his colleague who was being attacked.

Tobias told police he was attacked by a group of men who followed him from the lounge. A third colleague, Holmes, corroborated her colleagues' version and said she saw the group attack them from afar. She had fled from the scene. The group said they believed their alleged attackers were off-duty officers, the report said.

The NOPD opened an investigation upon the citizen complaint. Warren Riley told WWLTV there would be accountability.

"There will be no cover-up. There will be hiding no information. If these officers were wrong, they will suffer the consequences of their actions."

Three officers were reassigned from the special operations unit pending the outcome of the investigation including Sergeant Hans Ganthier, and Officers Jason Samuel and Joey* Lapene.

*For some reason earlier media accounts refer to "Joey" Lapene whereas later ones refer to him as "David" Lapene. He's just one person. I will call him David.

2. In February of 2009, Mr. Lamont sues the NOPD, the city, and the three officers.

The lawsuit alleges that several off-duty police officers used excessive force and falsely arrested Lamont Williams, 36, in an apparent dispute between Regional Transit Authority employees and off-duty police officers last year.

A criminal inquiry was opened, but a spokeswoman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday that the district attorney believes the incident is a civil matter. She declined to comment further.

The NOPD recently finished its own administrative investigation and is holding disciplinary hearings for the officers, NOPD spokesman Bob Young said. Once those hearings are completed, the police superintendent will have the final say on whether penalties will be handed down to the officers.

3. In late April of 2009, Officer David Lapene is fired from the NOPD for his role in the fight.

Officer David Lapene was dismissed after a hearing and a "thorough review of the evidence," according to a department news release. He was found to have broken four regulations of the department.

Lapene violated regulations governing moral conduct, adherence to the law, truthfulness and professional conduct, the NOPD news release said.

Another officer, Jennifer Payne, was suspended without pay for 80 days as a result of the same investigation, NOPD spokesman Bob Young said Thursday night.

Payne was the woman accused of seizing Mr. Hagan's handgun in the initial report.

*Note: Jennifer Payne is sometimes referred to as Jennifer Samuel. She is married to officer Jason Samuel, who was also investigated as part of the bar incident.

4. Between May and June of 2009, David Lapene is hired by DA Leon Cannizzaro before subsequently resigning.

Cannizzaro has defended Lapene's hiring to WDSU. He said Lapene's case was reviewed by the two previous interim district attorneys, and both times there were no charges filed. After looking at the file, Cannizzaro said agrees with that decision.

Prior to Lapene's resignation, it was reported that the District Attorney's daughter, Laura Cannizzaro was present at the bar during the incident in 2008.

5. In July, 2009 the investigation by Public Integrity Bureau into the incident at the Beach Corner leaks to the public.

An internal report from the New Orleans Police Department Thursday night suggested that several officers lied about what happened at the Beach Corner Bar and Grill in February 2008.

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Another part of the internal report states that a civilian man named Donald McMyne was also part of the investigation. He told investigators that he never saw the fight, but later an officer told him what happened. McMyne stated that that officer asked him to lie.

Also, Officer Jennifer Samuel changed her story several times, according to the report. The report states that Samuel removed Kennis Hagan's personal gun from his parked car, and the remaining officers conspired to falsely arrest Williams for possession of Hagan's firearm. They then convinced the civilian to participate in the conspiracy. The civilian has since admitted to the conspiracy, which was documented in an official NOPD arrest report.Investigators also noted that Officer David Lapene admitted that he exited the bar right behind Damon Tobias. He admitted to walking behind Tobias when he claimed an unknown person swung over his shoulder and punched Tobias in the face. He repeatedly denied punching Tobias, even though Kisa Holmes identified him at the scene as the person who punched Tobias.

6. Just last week, PANO sued the Public Integrity Bureau and the Officer who filed the investigation for how the case was handled - though it's not clear to me on what grounds other than... well, revenge.

The attorney for the accused officers said the police department's investigation is flawed and that Sgt. Darryl Watson, who conducted the investigation, may have broken the law.

"He filed a false police report," the attorney said. "They have been disseminating it. There have been repercussions to police officers because of it and now it's time for him to eat his words and we are going to feed it to him."

--

The PID report is available at NOLA.com.

I downloaded and read the report.

The details are quite striking, particularly when the civilian witness, Donald McMyne, admits he was coached by officers to fabricate his entire story about recognizing the alleged bathroom dispute, seeing a gun on Mr Lamont, and tackling him from behind. Apparently none of that actually happened.

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There are so many burning questions here...

For the NOPD, remember Riley's words:

"There will be no cover-up. There will be hiding no information. If these officers were wrong, they will suffer the consequences of their actions."

1. Since it is clear that this incident involved several officers from the Special Operations Division and a transparent attempt to cover up what actually transpired, why has only one officer, David Lapene, been fired?

2. Did the firing of Lapene and suspension of Samuels represent attempts to find fall guys for an incident that fingers Riley's elite unit? Is there a pattern of special treatment for SWAT and Special Ops units emerging?

3. Given how shockingly casual these elite NOPD officers were about planting evidence, coaching false witnesses, and providing false accounts to their own investigators, what is to prevent the public from simply assuming that this stuff occurs rather regularly?

-

For the DA, refer to the statement from Mr. Cannizzaro's office:

A criminal inquiry was opened, but a spokeswoman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday that the district attorney believes the incident is a civil matter. She declined to comment further.

4. Was Mr. Cannizzaro aware of the PID report when he hired Mr. Lapene?

5. If not, is the DA reconsidering the prospect of criminal prosecution?

6. Did you discuss the incident at the bar with your daughter and aspirant assistant DA, Laura Cannizzaro?

7. Why did Ms. Cannizzaro refuse to answer questions when she was approached by Public Integrity Division investigators the night of the incident?

8. What was her role in the hiring of Lapene?

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More later.

Buried on ABC26

I'm really glad Cliff is back to discussing municipal issues again. On Sunday, he questioned the rationale behind the DA's hiring of fired NOPD officer David Lapene.

[W]hy would he hire someone that was fired from the police department for a fight that appears to be racially motivated? When I read the story I was trying to imagine what he had to do to get fired from the police department. It’s not like the NOPD has a history of zero tolerance for bad behavior so he had to really do or say something crazy to be terminated. There was five officers involved in the fight and he is the only one that got terminated. Is Leon Cannizzarro playing good ole boy politics at the expense of potentially losing trials down the line? The reason I say that is because I am sure not many people will know who David Lapene is when he is out looking for evidence or interviewing witnesses. My worry is what’s going to happen when that defense attorney tells the jury that will certainly have some black people on it, the person responsible for the evidence was once fired from the police force for fighting and shouting racial slurs at a bunch of black transit authority workers. All it takes is one person with enough distrust of the system to hang a jury.

That's the substance of the matter and Cliff does a great job explaining precisely why this was a really stupid hire by the new DA. Today David at the Gambit reported that Mr. Lapene has resigned. In a letter to DA Cannizzaro, Lapene wrote he was stepping down because "continuing my employment with you could interfere with your good work in attempting to make a positive difference in this community.”

I'd like to point everyone's attention to this report from ABC26's Meg Gatto, the substance of which has not seemed to permeate the rest of the media for reasons I don't understand.




This was not just a thoughtless hire. It smacks of nepotism. Cannizzaro got put through the paces on WBOK on Monday morning and he deserved it.

That said, this morning Clay lists a bunch of links related to the feud between Cannizzaro and Police Superintendent Warren Riley and really Riley's generally shameful stewardship of the NOPD. I really wish WBOK's morning team would give Mr. Riley the same tough questions they did Mr. Cannizzaro instead of worshipping him like he's god's gift to crime fighting like they have the last few times I've listened in.

Another thing to note is that ABC 26 continues to be the only embeddable local news station. Considering they're not at the top of the ratings heap, this strikes me as an important competitive advantage they've given themselves to help increase the impact of their reports. Their hounding of Mr. Cannizzaro over his daughter's connections to Mr. Lapene is, IMO, what precipitated Mr. Lapene's resignation.

Meanwhile, Crime Is Fought

From the T-P:

More than a dozen of Kendrick Thomas' friends stood outside his house Tuesday afternoon, steps from the spot where he was shot dead the night before.

They hugged, commiserated, and most of all, seethed with anger.

"Why, someone please tell me why, that camera isn't working?" asked Thomas' stepfather, Jimmie Ricks. "A girl got shot right over there weeks ago. Some boys got shot right there. Why is this camera not working?

"Mayor Nagin: Please handle your business, " he pleaded.

But even if crime cameras are operational, and that's been a big if, have the crime cameras helped prosecute any cases?

Crime cameras have been used by the DA's office in about 3 cases out of 12,000 arrests.

On average, since Hurricane Katrina hit the area, police have made roughly 12,000 felony arrests per year. The district attorney's office accepts anywhere between 7,000 to 8,000 of those cases on average.

In a written statement, the district attorney's office told WDSU prosecutors have "utilized" crime camera video in three cases during the last year.

Additionally, the annual cost of maintenance is somehow greater than the cost of the original cameras.

"Unless you can show third-party validation that we'll have 200-plus cameras up and working every day of the year and that they can be used by prosecutors as evidence, I think we're throwing good money after bad," Fielkow said.

Head put the budgetary problem in perspective. She noted the city spent $7,500 maintaining and upgrading each of 240 cameras in 2008 when it only cost $6,240 to purchase and install a brand new camera. At a proposed $1.6 million for 2009, the maintenance and restoration cost would still be higher than buying new cameras, at about $6,600 per unit.

Hurricane Gustav knocked out 100 of the cameras, and Head said the city's current goal is only to restore 200 cameras, which would yield an even higher per-unit maintenance cost. She said she wants to see the budget proposal cut by $1 million, leaving only enough to maintain the current array of cameras, at least until their usefulness can be established.

It would appear that the NOPD has more pressing concerns anyway.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley is embroiled in a controversy after a series of blistering reports about the state of the NOPD evidence room. Conditions have deteriorated to the point that criminal evidence has become damaged. Lax security has lead to the loss or theft of $19,000 in seized drug money. Poor documentation, substandard storage, and the overall lack of basic adherence to legal standards will ruin cases and set scores of alleged criminals free.

And it should.

How could anyone ever convict somebody based on "evidence" kept by this NOPD?

The scandal again calls into question the basic integrity of the criminal justice system, raising concerns even about cases in which prosecutors were able to secure a guilty verdict.

Also at issue is why the NOPD failed to correct the problems at the evidence room after weeks and months of repeated warnings.

Meanwhile, our new District Attorney took office this week and got to his first order of businesses promptly:

Lobbying City Council not to cut $1.3 million from his budget as the Mayor had requested.

Cannizaro now has about a week before he has to go before the New Orleans City Council to ask for more money.

Mayor Ray Nagin's budget proposal does not replace the federal funds now paying for dozens of investigators and clerical workers.

"I understand I need five votes on the council to over-ride the mayor's veto of his refusal to place the $1.3-million in budget which we need in order to keep those 34 employees.

Everything is as it should be, no?


UPDATE:

Deon Roberts finds that actually crime cameras don't work anywhere.

Not only do I not want to keep pumping maintenance money into these things. I want to take down what's up and put it up for sale. There are schoolchildren with no textbooks in this city.