Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro will be spared from having to testify about his alleged loathing for a pair of prominent defense attorneys — at least for now.
Attorney John Fuller on Tuesday withdrew a motion to bar Cannizzaro's office from prosecuting roughly 30 criminal cases that Fuller and attorney Gregory Carter have pending before Criminal District Court Chief Judge Laurie White.
An Orleans Parish judge has ordered District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro to take the witness st…
In doing so, a pending subpoena for Cannizzaro to testify under oath about his feud with the two defense attorneys was rendered moot.
Fuller and Carter have filed similar motions in all 12 sections of the criminal courthouse in New Orleans in scores of cases — with little success.
They argue that a recent memo that Cannizzaro's office sent to outside law enforcement agencies — claiming the two attorneys coerced, intimidated or even endangered witnesses in a handful of cases — reveals a "personal interest in exacting revenge" that leaves the DA's Office incapable of treating their clients fairly.
Cannizzaro's office has called that claim a reach. Whatever disdain the DA may have for the two attorneys doesn't extend to their clients, prosecutors have argued, and therefore can't be grounds for recusing his office from prosecuting those cases.
A different judge, Camille Buras, earlier denied Fuller's request to recuse the DA's Office from prosecuting Fuller's most prominent client: Cardell Hayes, the New Orleans tow truck driver who is accused of murdering former Saints defensive lineman Will Smith.
Only one jurist, District Judge Benedict Willard, so far has backed Fuller and Carter. Willard barred Cannizzaro's office from trying a pair of Fuller's cases, a decision that the DA's Office has appealed.
White declined to rule either way on the request by Fuller and Carter. Instead, she ordered Cannizzaro to take the stand.
The judge, who is running this fall for a seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, reasoned that the defendants need to judge the alleged venom for themselves before deciding whether to stick with Fuller and Carter as their attorneys.
But Cannizzaro's turn on the witness stand, originally scheduled for Aug. 16, was held up when prosecutors argued that White's own animosity toward Cannizzaro made her unable to decide the issue fairly.
Bruce McLauren figures any decent lawyer could resolve what he describes as a bogus charge a…
Judge Robin Pittman was tapped to decide that issue. Pittman, a former prosecutor, had yet to set a hearing date when Fuller walked into court Tuesday to withdraw the motions.
In an interview, Fuller said he would wait to see if Willard's ruling withstands the DA's appeal.
"At some point, it becomes unfair to your clients. It becomes bigger than me and the DA," Fuller said. "It becomes unfair, in terms of the time and the frequency with which (the clients) were coming back to court. At the end of the day, they're front and center."
The issue likely would reignite if higher courts uphold Willard's ruling.
