NEW ORLEANS -- District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is talking success and laying out major changes for the criminal justice system. During his first annual address as district attorney, Leon Cannizzaro acknowledged serious areas in need of improvement, but his solutions are far from a done deal.
"Crime is not the biggest issue in the city," said Cannizzaro during his address. "Crime, to me, is the only issue."
An impassioned Cannizzaro boasted a job well done. Fresh off his first year of a six-year term, Cannizzaro spent much of his 40 minute speech listing milestone after milestone, including the expansion of rehab programs for first time non-violent offenders.
"When I took office there were 300 individuals in the program," said Cannizzaro. "Today there are more than 700."
Cannizzaro said his office has also increased the number of cases his office takes on once the New Orleans Police Department makes an arrest. In 2007, Cannizzaro said, the office was only tackling about 61 percent of cases.
"Last year, the office accepted more than 86 percent of cases brought to it."
The Metropolitan Crime Commission serves as a watchdog for the criminal justice system and acknowledges Cannizzaro's strides and success.
"And that's the result of improved communication and coordination between police and prosecutors," said Rafael Goyeneche, who heads the watchdog group.
But noticeably missing from the criminal justice who's who event were the parish's criminal court judges, their reserved block seating empty.
In a statement, head judge Arthur Hunter cited a portion of the Code of Judicial Conduct, saying "a judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities ... for these reasons, we respectfully decline your invitation to join you as you deliver the first annual State of the Criminal Justice System address."
As expected, Cannizzaro unveiled plans to move non-violent misdemeanor offenses from their courtrooms into municipal court. The move, he said, is in no way a jab at their ability of performance.
"I am attempting to ease the burdens on their time so they can more easily focus their attention on our most hardened criminals," said Cannizzaro.
Cannizzaro also announced his request for criminal court judges to speed up the process of assigning cases.
The Orleans Public Defenders, who often find themselves on the opposite side of the courtroom with the district attorneys office, actually agree with the change, saying as it stands now criminal court judges take too long to make the assignments of which case will go to which judge.
"As much as 60 days after arrest," added Chris Flood with the public defenders. "If we knew that information the day of arrest, we could assign our lawyers to courtrooms and [Cannizzaro] could assign his lawyer to courtrooms in both defendant and crime victims can get best the representation they can get in this city." Cannizzaro is also asking the next mayor and City Council to support a charter change that would give the district attorney's office a set percentage of the city's budget, rather than have the council and mayor debate each year how much or little the office should get.
Voters, though, would ultimately get the final say through a citywide election.
