Liz Murrill Attorney General Responds - this is going to be good- Louisiana vs New Orleans

Attorney General Liz Murrill responds a few minutes ago to the Orleans Parish grand jury's indictment of her today; this is going to be good. This is going to be an all out war of state vs city.

quote]EMERGENCY MOTION TO QUASH INDICTMENTS OR STAY THE CASE This extraordinarily irregular matter comes before this Court rife with conflicts and violations of law. An Orleans Parish grand jury-apparently originally impaneled in the ordinary course of judicial operations-has been co-opted by political actors for political purposes, in an effort to make news and interfere with the Attorney General's ability to carry out her duties on behalf of the State of Louisiana. For starters, the District Court has a conflict due to its role as the judge assigned to the 38 cases involving prosecutions being handled by the Attorney General. To make matters worse, the entire proceeding only came to the Attorney General's attention due to leaks from the grand jury proceeding to the press. That was illegal. Indeed, by the end of the day June 30, the press knew more about this matter than the Attorney General. Finally, the special prosecutor's involvement in this matter is deeply infected with conflicts of interest because she is currently represented by the Attorney General through appointed counsel in a pending sexual harassment suit in Orleans Civil District Court. She therefore has a personal and financial interest in that relationship, which cannot be viewed as independent and unbiased. Indeed, she raised the issue herself when she made a phone call to the Attorney General's office on the morning of July 1, in which she disclosed confidential grand jury information and discussed her own representation. That too was illegal. Upon information and belief, she also is actively representing criminal defendants and is therefore not even qualified to act as a special prosecutor. Laurie White also was Calvin Duncan's lawyer for many years. Although the Attorney General does not yet know what involvement she may or may not have had involving his election to the office of Criminal Clerk, she certainly is not without bias as it relates to the legislation that abolished his office and the position of the Attorney General regarding that matter-the very matter put at issue before this Court. The Attorney General, moreover, has reason to believe (based on the phone call from Laurie White to a high-level staff member in the AG's office), that individuals from outside the grand jury may have engaged in ex parte, illegal communications with the intent to manipulate the Grand Jury for political purposes. Indeed, based on the leaks to the press it is clear that grand jury has been talking a lot. To whom must be the subject of later action. It is important to also note that the Attorney General had no knowledge of this matter pending before an Orleans Parish criminal grand jury until she was contacted by the press two days prior to the indictment being issued. It has become clear in the past 36 hours that the press-ultimately, multiple members of the press-have obtained confidential grand jury information. Confidential grand jury information could only come from two sources: the grand jurors themselves or the special prosecutor. In addition to being a crime, the breach of confidentiality impugns the integrity of the entirety of the grand jury's service. That breach not only taints this case, but every case the grand jury touched. These conflicts and irregularities impugn the integrity of the entire grand jury proceeding from its inception and show that it was always intended to use the criminal justice system as weapon against the Attorney General. If it's allowed to stand, it won't stop there—no one is safe from such an abuse of process and malicious prosecution. For these reasons, and as more fully discussed below, the Attorney General requests an immediate stay of these proceedings to permit time to file appropriate motions and appeals. The criminal justice system should be held to the highest ethical standards to preserve the integrity of the process and confidence in the system. The persistent politicization of the grand jury process and the use of a conflicted judge and unqualified, conflicted special prosecutor undermine all confidence in the system. The indictment purports to charge the Louisiana Attorney General with 16 counts of violating La. R.S. 14:122 (public intimidation) and La. R.S. 14:134 (malfeasance of office) for sending letters. The letters were sent in her official capacity as Chief Legal Officer of the State, cited Louisiana law, warned of the remedies the law prescribes, and advised-truthfully and lawfully-that she may be required to enforce the law. In other words, she explained that the Council's illegal actions may prompt legal action from the Attorney General. That caution came on the tails of multiple[/quote]