HUFFINGTON
08.04.13
THE UNTOUCHABLES
Few of the prosecutors in those
cases suffered any harm to their
careers. Most continued to get
reelected, and some went on to
higher office, including Ed Jagels
in Kern County, California; Scott
Harshbarger and Martha Coakley
in Massachusetts; Daniel Ford,
who is now a judge, also in Massachusetts; Robert Philibosian and
Lael Rubin in California; and Janet Reno in Florida.
“Publicity and high conviction
rates are a stepping stone to higher office,” says Harvey Silverglate,
a Boston-based criminal defense
attorney and outspoken civil libertarian. He says prosecutors accused of going too far can frame
the allegations as a testament to
their willingness to lock up the
bad guys. “Except in some rare
cases, misconduct isn’t going hurt
a prosecutor’s career. And it can
often help,” he says.
Back in Orleans Parish, the lead
prosecutor in the John Thompson case, Eric Dubelier, was not
only never disciplined, he was
eventually appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for
the Southern District of Florida,
where he handled narcotics cases.
In a prosecutor’s world, that’s a
promotion. He was then promoted
again to the Justice Department’s
Transnational and Major Crimes
Section in Washington, D.C.,
where he worked for eight years.
Since 1998, he has been a partner
at the large international law firm
Reed Smith, where he heads up its
division on white-collar crime.
Silverglate says that’s a common career track for federal prosecutors. “They often go on to take
11 percent of the
men Connick’s office
attempted to send to
their deaths… were
later found to be
factually innocent.
positions in white-collar law defense. And these are extremely lucrative positions — 1 to 2 million
dollar salaries. And they aren’t
being hired to litigate. The skills
it takes to be a good prosecutor
don’t transfer to criminal defense.
They’re being hired to negotiate plea bargains with the friends
they still have in the U.S. attorney
offices. It’s a huge racket.”
“Tell me again about accountability,” Thompson says from his
office along St. Bernard Avenue,
a rough, working-class neighborhood near the Treme. “You hear