NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) – The Louisiana Supreme Court recently upheld a decision to dismiss ethics charges against former Jefferson Parish prosecutor Ken John Dohre in the wrongful conviction of an Avondale man who then spent more than 15 years in prison before he was exonerated in the 1996 stabbing death of Waggaman woman.
The high court's dismissal of formal ethics charges against Dohre in its brief Oct. 29 attorney disciplinary proceeding followed an office of disciplinary counsel request for a review the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB)'s decision to toss the allegations.
"Having reviewed the record and the briefs of the parties and amici curiae, we find the disciplinary board reached the correct result in dismissing the formal charges," the attorney disciplinary proceeding said.
The high court's decision effectively ends the appeals process of the office of disciplinary counsel and the Innocence Project New Orleans, which in July filed a brief asking that Dohre be suspended.
Dohre was prosecutor in the conviction of Michael Williams, who was imprisoned following his second-degree murder conviction in the stabbing death of a 25-year-old Waggaman woman that had been based solely on false testimony. "The only evidence linking Williams to the murder was the testimony of Christopher Landry, who completely recanted his testimony in 2009," the LADB said in its ruling issued in May that charges against Dohre be dismissed
Dohre was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 27, 1990, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. Dohre had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to the LADB's recommendation. Dohre currently is an assistant prosecutor in the office of 22nd Judicial District Attorney Warren Montgomery for Washington and St. Tammany parishes.