NEW ORLEANS — Harahan attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Salvador Perricone faces possible disbarment following a split July 17 Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) recommendation regarding allegedly inappropriate anonymous postings made over a five-year period on a local newspaper's website.
The LADB said it was not impressed by Perricone's request for credit for a "voluntary suspension" he claims he has been serving since March 2012 when he left the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Louisiana's Eastern District.
"He has remained eligible to practice law during that time and could do so at any moment without restriction," the LADB said in its 31-page recommendation to the state Supreme Court.
LADB Adjudicative Committee Member Brian Landry
| ladb.org
Adjudicative Committee Member Brian Landry said in his dissent to the LADB's recommendation that Perricone should not be disbarred, but he should be sternly disciplined .
"While [Perricone]'s misconduct may not warrant disbarment, it certainly warrants a lengthy suspension, as recommended by the hearing committee (two years) and the office of disciplinary counsel (three years)," Landry said. "I would vote to recommend such suspension, but cannot agree with the majority's recommendation for disbarment."
LADB members Pamela Carter, Dominick Scandurro Jr., Danna Schwab, Evans Spiceland Jr., Melissa Theriot and Charles Williamson Jr. agreed with the board's majority recommendation. Board member Linda Bizzarro recused herself from the case.
The recommendation said Perricone stipulated to most of the allegations against him, but argued that his conduct did not a conflict of interest.
Perricone was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on Oct. 5, 1979, according to his profile on the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. Perricone had no prior discipline before the state bar, the LADB's recommendation said.
In January, an LADB hearing committee issued its own split recommendation that Perricone be suspended for two years "with one year deferred in view of [Perricone]'s voluntary interim suspension for a period that now has exceeded five years."
The hearing committee found that Perricone wrote posts on the New Orleans Times-Picayune's website between 2007 and 2012. Many of Perricone's posts concerned the U.S. Attorney's Office, where he worked, "and on occasion included negative comments targeting both state and federal judges," the hearing committee said in its recommendation.
Perricone was alleged to have posted to the newspaper's website as "Campstblue," "Legacyusa," "Dramatis Personae," "Henry L. Menken 1951" and "Fed up."