NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A former federal prosecutor whose anonymous online comments about cases stirred turmoil at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans went before Louisiana’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, hoping to avoid disbarment.
Sal Perricone was an assistant U.S. Attorney when his posts were exposed - which led a judge to later overturn multiple convictions in a police shooting case stemming from the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Perricone resigned in 2012, as did Jan Mann, another prosecutor found to have made improper posts. Their boss, then-U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, resigned later, although he was not implicated in the postings.
Perricone’s attorney, Kirk Granier, asked justices to consider that Perricone suffered from “complex post-traumatic stress syndrome” arising from his earlier years in police work, including time with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the New Orleans Police Department. He said Perricone suffered 47 traumatic incidents over his law enforcement career. They included his being physically attacked and shot at by criminal suspects over the years, and his presence at multiple murder scenes. PTSD affected his judgment later, Granier said, and should be considered a mitigating factor when the justices consider punishment.
It’s unclear when the court will rule.
Perricone, 67, voluntarily resigned from the practice of law in federal courts. He and Granier declined comment on the state proceedings after Tuesday’s hearing.
Over the years, various defense attorneys pointed to the prosecutors’ anonymous, improper online comments in attempts to aid their clients who were charged when Perricone and Mann were in office. Most met with little or no success.
However, Perricone’s comments were cited by a New Orleans federal judge who overturned the convictions of five former police officers connected to deadly shootings of unarmed people at New Orleans’ Danziger Bridge following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The judge ordered a new trial for four officers accused of being involved in the shooting and one tied to a subsequent cover-up. The five eventually made plea deals.
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