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Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

thelensnola.org

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Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#111

Post by kefka »

mcherm wrote: post #92
wccrawford wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond the fact that it should be illegal, it's stupid . It's going to teach people that they might not have to comply with subpoenas because of all the fake ones. At the very least, people will be more inclined to wait until they have a lawyer before speaking with the police, which is the opposite of what they want. But it's also likely to cause people to ignore real subpoenas, which will not only hurt them but also…

I disagree. It won't really harm the prosecutors and police. They'll still be able to bring the full force of the law against anyone who violates an actual subpoena. In fact, it allows them to successfully prosecute a few more people (those who didn't respond to a subpoena). And stories about THAT will just terrify people and make them more likely to comply with requests from police and prosecutors (because they don'…

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Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#112

Post by sctb »

davidgerard wrote: post #10

Cheap reblog of http://thelensnola.org/2017/04/26/orleans-parish-prosecutors... "Orleans Parish prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk to them"

Thanks! We updated the link from https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170428/20250437262/louis....

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#113

Post by JackFr »

While this article refers to the DA's office, the history of police corruption in New Orleans is astonishing. It's hardly surprising that there is virtually no respect for the law.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/fbi-officers-stati...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/law-disorder/etc/cro...

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#114

Post by mannykannot »

pc86 wrote: post #65

> The notice came from District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. His prosecutors are using these fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk to them — a tactic that defense lawyers and legal experts said is unethical, if not illegal. The fact that the DA's office, which does not issue subpoenas , can mail to witnesses a document which says "SUBPOENA" is bold lettering and threatens arrest, is not on its face obvio…

It may not be illegal because no-one thought anyone in a position of responsibility would consider doing anything like it, when the rules covering subpoenas were set up.

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#115

Post by wccrawford »

mcherm wrote: post #92
wccrawford wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond the fact that it should be illegal, it's stupid . It's going to teach people that they might not have to comply with subpoenas because of all the fake ones. At the very least, people will be more inclined to wait until they have a lawyer before speaking with the police, which is the opposite of what they want. But it's also likely to cause people to ignore real subpoenas, which will not only hurt them but also…

I disagree. It won't really harm the prosecutors and police. They'll still be able to bring the full force of the law against anyone who violates an actual subpoena. In fact, it allows them to successfully prosecute a few more people (those who didn't respond to a subpoena). And stories about THAT will just terrify people and make them more likely to comply with requests from police and prosecutors (because they don'…

I disagree that it won't harm the prosecutors and police.

The rest of what you said is exactly my point. Those people will get hurt because they now question some basic parts of our legal system. They might violate a subpoena that they mistakenly think is fake and end up on the wrong side of the law.

At the same time, those people are also hurting the court cases that they were supposed to attend.

Prosecutors who can't get their witnesses to come in to trial are going to have a bad time, even if they can later convict those people for violating a subpoena.

The only time it helps them is when people comply with the fake subpoena and talk when they didn't have to... And there's some serious question about the evidence that produces. It wouldn't be the first evidence thrown out because it didn't follow the correct protocols and/or violated civil rights.

And what happens when this all comes to light? Do they throw out every case where this appears to have happened, if it's found to be illegal?

To me, this is a complete negative for prosecutors in the long run.

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#116

Post by Zak »

taormina wrote: post #95
Zak wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything runs on written signed letters and the post. If you have relevant insight, why is that? Digitization makes most information-oriented work easier and it stands to reason this would be true for law as well.

Well, the lawyers should know that digitizing it means that they are liable and provably so.

I don't think lawyers generating paper documents, signing them and then denying their authenticity is a widespread practice.

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#117

Post by vkou »

mikeash wrote: post #84
NoGravitas wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any time you call the cops on somebody, it should be done with the expectation that they may be arrested and taken to jail, regardless of your intentions when making the call. Correct that to: any time you call the cops on somebody, it should be done with the expectation that someone may die , not necessarily the person you are calling the cops on. Maybe the situation is bad enough that that's already a possibility…

That seems incredibly paranoid. Let's say someone parks their car in front of my garage and blocks me in (and blocks the fire lane too), should I just wait it out and not call the police because somebody might die? This happened to a neighbor a few months ago. He called the police, and the only thing that happened was the car getting towed. How about if you get into a car crash but nobody's dying immediately, don't c…

If the driver is present when the cop arrives, the altercation can escalate to death. It takes two to argue, and you have no idea what the driver is going to be like, and what the cop is going to be like.

It's not likely to happen, but you're also not likely to be murdered in a traffic stop. Yet, it happens.

I believe you are legally obligated to contact the police in the event of a serious accident.

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#119

Post by dang »

Doxin wrote: post #13

> The purpose and function of calling the police is generally to bring lawful force to bear against someone who has committed a crime. Only in america. > Their job is not to resolve domestic disputes Only in america. > Any time you call the cops on somebody, it should be done with the expectation that they may be arrested and taken to jail Only in america. Just because the American police force is awful and only real…

Please don't post nationalistic rhetoric to Hacker News, regardless of which nation you favor or disfavor. Ratcheting up indignation levels is bad here, and so is grandiose generalization.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14245012 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Louisiana prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk

#120

Post by [deleted] »

Doxin wrote: post #13

> The purpose and function of calling the police is generally to bring lawful force to bear against someone who has committed a crime. Only in america. > Their job is not to resolve domestic disputes Only in america. > Any time you call the cops on somebody, it should be done with the expectation that they may be arrested and taken to jail Only in america. Just because the American police force is awful and only real…

[deleted]
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