A historic settlement was reached in a lawsuit that ends the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office's long-standing use of fake subpoenas and intimidation to coerce victims and witnesses to do things against their will.
The illegal practices were common when the office was headed by former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, the primary target of the lawsuit. Plaintiffs in Singleton et al. v. Cannizzaro reached the settlement with James Williams, Orleans Parish's new district attorney, according to a release from ACLU of Louisiana.
According to the release, the settlement outlines steps OPDA must impose to assure internal supervision of the material witness warrant process. It includes scheduling regular audits to ensure outstanding warrants are closed and documentation of communication with victims and witnesses. OPDA also agreed to an independent monitor to confirm the OPDA complies with the agreement.
Tara Mikkilineni, a senior attorney at Civil Rights Corps, said the settlement erases a “win at all costs mentality.”
"Prosecutors wield enormous power in the system and their actions are largely shielded from accountability," Mikkilineni said. "The courage of our clients in pursuing justice for the harms caused by Cannizzaro's office cannot be understated. Thanks to them, the DA has committed to reforms including unprecedented oversight of the office."
Civil Rights Corps, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Louisiana, Venable LLP, SilenceIsViolence and the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in 2017 against then DA Cannizzaro and his office for faking subpoenas to coerce victims and witnesses of harm into agreeing to private, out-of-court interrogations, which is a direct violation of Louisiana law, the ACLU of Louisiana said in its statement. The fake subpoenas bore OPDA’s official seal and threatened fines and imprisonment as penalties for noncompliance.
Though the fake subpoenas had no legal standing, prosecutors used them as a basis for arresting witnesses to compel their testimony. According to the original lawsuit, prosecutors under Cannizzaro also routinely abused their power by arresting material witnesses, misrepresenting information on material witness arrest warrants, and using the threat of arrest to force cooperation from reluctant witnesses. The abuses forced people who were not accused of any crime or even victims of crime to spend days, weeks and months in jail.
The suit was not a class action, leaving the three remaining plaintiffs, Renata Singleton, Tiffany LaCroix and Lazonia Baham, to receive the bulk of the undisclosed financial compensation, an estimated $120,000 each inclusive of costs and fees, according to Michelle Moore, communications director of the ACLU Louisiana. All the former plaintiffs who settled earlier received financial compensation as well.
“This ruling is positive news for Louisianans, and everyone impacted by these cruel unlawful tactics,” said Nora Ahmed, ACLU of Louisiana legal director. “We hope it sends a signal to other prosecutors around the state that this conduct is unacceptable and will be challenged if it comes to the attention of the ACLU of Louisiana’s Justice Lab initiative.”