The New Orleans City Council today passed a resolution asking New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro to stop using material witness warrants to arrest crime victims in order to compel their testimony.
While the resolution doesn't have the power to require the D.A. do anything, council vice president Helena Moreno said they'll push for a state law that will.
In the past, D.A. Leon Cannizzaro has defended it as a means to get reluctant witnesses to cooperate, but critics say that only makes it harder to get people to report crimes.
"Twenty-one of the 28 were involving cases of murder or attempted murder, so where people were shot, and we had to, unfortunately, try to get the witnesses in who were extremely reluctant to come in," Cannizaro said. "Only two of those cases involved a sexual offense."
Cannizzaro said the council's action will only "embolden domestic abusers, child abusers and sex criminals to intimidate, threaten, harass and coerce their victims and witnesses into staying silent," and called the vote "misguided."
The council vote was a unanimous 7-0.