HUFFINGTON
08.04.13
THE UNTOUCHABLES
In the end, one of the most
powerful positions in public service — a position that carries with
it the authority not only to ruin
lives, but in many cases the power
to end them — is one of the positions most shielded from liability
and accountability. And the freedom to push ahead free of consequences has created a zealous
conviction culture.
Nowhere is the ethos of impunity more apparent than in
Louisiana and in Orleans Parish,
the site of Thompson’s case. The
Louisiana Supreme Court, which
must give final approval to any
disciplinary action taken against a
prosecutor in the state, didn’t impose its first professional sanction
on any prosecutor until 2005. According to Charles Plattsmier, who
heads the state’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel, only two prosecutors have been disciplined since
— despite dozens of exonerations
since the 1990s, a large share of
which came in part or entirely due
to prosecutorial misconduct.
Since the Supreme Court issued
its decision in Connick v. Thompson in March 2011, several defense
attorneys in New Orleans have
responded by filing complaints
against the city’s prosecutors.
Leading the charge is Sam Dalton,
a legal legend in New Orleans who
has practiced criminal defense law
in the area for 60 years. According to Dalton and others, not only
have these recent complaints not
been investigated, in some cases
they have yet to hear receipt of
“Mistakes can happen.
But if you don’t do
anything to stop them
from happening again,
you can’t keep calling
them mistakes.”
confirmation months after they
were filed. Even the head of the
board concedes that significant
barriers to accountability persist.
Thompson is certainly aware
of that. “These people tried to
eliminate me from the face of the
earth,” Thompson says of his own
prosecutors. “Do you get that?
They tried to murder me. And
goddamnit, there have to be some
kind of consequences.”
THE PROSECUTOR’S BUBBLE
There are a number of ways for
a prosecutor to commit misconduct. He could make inappropriate comments to jurors, or coax