re: BR DA recusing his office from Sterling case

The protesters care little about the facts....anyone with a brain knows you investigate fully and then draw conclusions. They learned nothing from Ferguson, where the DOJ eventually ruled it was a justifiable shooting. Facts can be stubborn things....

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Add in the layer that the DA has a long, personal relationship with the cop's family.

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I'm perusing the report on recusal. My instinct is that whatever is there is artifice.

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Mr. Moore is a good DA and I would trust him to handle this case.

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Agreed. But he's doing what is right for the community at large, to show them there isn't a single ounce of impropriety in the investigation.

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It'll cause that much more hell when the DOJ comes out saying no charges for a hate crime.

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Good. They can take their bitching to Washington to protest after the fact

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They tried every single officer in Baltimore,

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the state did. not the feds

Not a lot of meat on the bone of this relationship that disqualifies our DA from doing his job. He doesn't indicate he has represented them. He indicates he has no direct relationship with the accused.

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The only factor for the District Attorney in reaching this decision involves his relationship to the parents of officer Blane Salamoni. As has been covered in the media, his parents are both experienced law enforcement professionals who have achieved senior leadership positions within the Baton Rouge Police Department. Their careers and their professional responsibilities have often overlapped and interacted directly with the District Attorney. By example, officer Blane Salamoni’s mother was the Violent Crime and Crime Scene Commander during most of the District Attorney’s term of office and interacted personally and professionally with the District Attorney in establishing the parish-wide Violent Crime Unit in 2010. Since 2009, they have worked together on more than 400 homicides that the District Attorney has personally responded to since taking office. Officer Blane Salamoni’s father during this same period has commanded the department’s special operations unit and, in this capacity, has personally and alongside others in his unit provided the District Attorney, his family, and individuals on his staff with 24 hour security coverage when needed.

The District Attorney has no direct connection to either officer involved in this shooting and, if the legal test were one solely of direct connections, he could likely continue as the chief prosecutor responsible for making a determination as to any criminal responsibility for the death of Alton Sterling. The law, however, requires the District Attorney to look beyond direct connections. The Louisiana Supreme Court has previously stated: “He represents the State, and the State demands no victims. It seeks justice only, equal and impartial justice, and it is as much the duty of the district attorney to see that no innocent man suffers as it is to see that no guilty man escapes. Therefore he should not be involved or interested in any extrinsic matters which might, consciously or unconsciously, impair or destroy his power to conduct the accused’s trial fairly and impartially.” STATE V KING, 06-2383 (La. 12/15/06), 944 So.2d 1268

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So who takes over the case? The state?


DOJ.

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while they are here can they go check out the corruption of that DA in north louisiana, Jerry Jones.

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Absolutely not. In this instance it's unethical and a conflict of interest. What's so hard to understand about that?

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It is neither of those things. Read the report or look a few posts up. He is recusing under Supreme Court dicta. None of the actual peremptory rules requiring recusal were implicated. I'm relying on his report to draw that conclusion. His reasoning would result in his disqualification in every case involving police-defendants in this community.

I think this decision deserves scrutiny. I'm not saying my conclusion is the only one, but I think the report is pretty soft.

Who wants a local DAs decision not to prosecute to then be challenged and then litigated by everyone in the media? Why allow the appearance of favoritism when there's a personal connection between the DA and the guys parents?

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Who wants a local DAs decision not to prosecute to then be challenged and then litigated by everyone in the media?

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Anything short of an indictment is going to be questioned. Does that relieve the DA of doing his job? Not legally. This is a political move, I understand that. It doesn't appear to be justified. Hillar knows a lot of people. This type of analysis would result in disqualification on a ton of cases.

Hell, he's met with most of the influential gang bangers in this community as a result of BRAVE. Does that mean his office needs to be recused in each of those cases?