Orleans Parish prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk to them

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The notice Tiffany Lacroix received in November had “SUBPOENA” printed at the top, next to a logo of the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office. It ordered her to meet with a prosecutor to discuss the upcoming trial of Cardell Hayes, charged with murdering former Saints player Will Smith.

“A FINE AND IMPRISONMENT MAY BE IMPOSED FOR FAILURE TO OBEY THIS NOTICE,” it declared.

But it wasn’t authorized by a judge. It wasn’t issued by the Clerk of Court, which sends out subpoenas. And Lacroix wouldn’t have gone to jail if she had ignored it. In other words, it was fake.

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Assistant District Attorney Chris Bowman, who serves as Cannizzaro’s spokesman, defended the use of the documents, which he called “notifications” or “notices.”

“The district attorney does not see any legal issues with respect to this policy,” he said.

Cannizzaro’s office deals with “an extraordinary number of cases,” he said, including many in which potentially crucial witnesses are reluctant to talk.

“Maybe in some places if you send a letter on the DA’s letterhead that says, ‘You need to come in and talk to us,’ … that is sufficient. It isn’t here,” he said. “That is why that looks as formal as it does.”

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Get fricked Leon you slimy piece of shite.

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But Wednesday, after The Lens told Bowman that our story would report that legal experts say the practice could be illegal, The New Orleans Advocate reported that the DA’s office had announced it would end the practice.

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So, Leon, why are you stopping this practice? Your office said there was nothing wrong with it legally or ethically, but now you are shutting it down? Why?


Cannizzaro might be the slimiest piece of shite in NOLA government. Sure, most of our officials are corrupt as frick, but at least all they do is steal your tax dollars. Cannizzaro gets his rocks off by putting people in prison for decades, and he apparently doesn't care if he has bend the legal, moral, or ethical principles of society to do it.