Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is seeking information about the Orleans Parish grand jury that indicted her. That information is typically shielded from the public to protect the grand jury's anonymity.
Will Murrill succeed in her effort?
"Hard to say, because you never see this," Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said. "The investigation, following through the indictment, and what the Supreme Court (of Louisiana) did a few weeks ago, all of it's been unprecedented and unusual."
Ciolino says he can only think of a handful of situations in which defendants have tried to get grand jury information through subpoenas. However, he believes the circumstances surrounding this case favor Murrill.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams is fighting Murrill's subpoena, saying he recused himself and has no information relevant to the case.
Special prosecutor Laurie White are fighting Murrill's subpoena on the grounds that grand jury information is confidential. According to Ciolino, those arguments are no surprise.
"In an ordinary case, that's exactly the position the court would take in response to some kind of subpoena like this," Ciolino said.
However, because this case is atypical, Ciolino believes the courts will allow Murrill's subpoenas to proceed.
"There are clearly some improprieties that have happened with the grand jury process, which is unusual," Ciolino said. "Given that there is undoubtedly something that has gone awry with this grand jury process, undoubtedly, this might be the rare case where the subpoenas are issued. And ultimately we'll get to see what sort of communications and thought process went into these indictments."
Ciolino says regardless of how the ad hoc district court judge overseeing the case rules, the Louisiana Supreme Court will take up the matter.
Ciolino added that the Supreme Court has already shown its hand on how it will decide the case.
"This indictment, if it's not quashed, the Supreme Court is going to quash it. If it's quashed, the Supreme Court is going to affirm that," Ciolino said. "This indictment is never going to see the light of day at trial."
