November 3rd is Election Day, and New Orleans has a competitive race to replace outgoing District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. New Orleans City Council President Jason Williams, retired Judge Arthur Hunter and former Judge and District Attorney Keva Landrum all joined Newell on his program Friday morning for a candid, one-on-one conversation about their plans for this crucial job.
Keva Landrum was first up.
“Let’s talk about the notion of mass incarceration,” Newell began. “Where do you stand on that as a policy initiative, or whether or not that will influence your charging decisions?”
“What’s always going to be at the foremost of my decision-making is the public safety of the citizens of New Orleans,” Landrum answered. “That’s going to be a focus for me and for my administration, making sure that we are prioritizing violent crime. What I also know is that we do want to have a system that is fair and operates with integrity and transparency for everyone. There have been some policies that have unfairly led to mass incarceration, so we will make sure we enact policies that are fair to everyone. When it comes to mass incarceration, the ways we have utilized, for example, sentencing enhancement, that has in some ways led to unfair treatment. We’re going to make sure that in everything we do, we’re operating fairly, but keeping our focus on the safety of the city.”
“I hear that all the time, but you must agree that sentencing enhancements haven’t been utilized that often by this previous District Attorney,” Newell continued.
“Right - that is why we have to change how we utilize them and make sure we use the right discretion in doing so. This is what I know, having served as Judge - Judges have the experience and insight when looking at cases to make proper sentencing decisions, and so we don’t always have to use those sentencing enhancements, especially on non-violent offenders. I’ve made clear I will reserve the right to use sentencing enhancement when it involves the public safety of New Orleans. It might be the case, using Al Capone, for instance - what he was eventually convicted of was tax evasion, and not all the other things he was alleged to have done. Sometimes, that sentence enhancement may have to come in place when there is someone we know is a threat to public safety and the citizens of New Orleans. Generally, we would not employ it, but in that case we would, because with me, everything is going to be about public safety.”
Listen to the entire interview with Keva Landrum here:
Arthur Hunter was next.
“Looking at your website, you have some very affirmative positions you want to take on day one,” Newell said. “You say starting day one, there will be no prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana possession cases. I would ask - why?”
“For one thing It’s a waste of money,” Hunter said. “I’d rather devoted the limited resources of the District Attorney’s office towards more serious crimes. It’s legal in half the states in the country, and it’s even legal here in Louisiana for medical use. I’d rather focus on more serious crimes than someone smoking a marjuana cigarette.”
“So if someone is driving around smoking a marjiana cigarette, that’s not of interest to your office?” Newell continued.
“Not for a state charge, no,” Hunter said. “But they can still be charged with a municipal or city charge for possession. I want to devote the limited monies we have to more serious crimes.”
“You’re replacing your desire for legislative intent and legislative will?”
“No, what I’m doing is exercising the discretion that the District Attorney has to devote time and resources to more serious crimes. People are more concerned with armed robberies, carjacking, murders and sexual assaults than someone smoking marijuana.”
“Well, I concede that but I just don’t understand how we violate the three-branch system of government, where the legislature passes bills and codifies them, and get to a place where the DA can just unilaterally say, ‘I’m not going to prosecute that.’”
“It’s a matter of priority, and the priority in New Orleans, from what I have seen in my years on the bench, is to concentrate resources on more serious crimes.”
Listen to the entire interview with Arthur Hunter here:
City Council President Jason Williams was the final candidate Newell interviewed Friday.
“Why don’t we just jump right in and address the elephant in the room?” Newell said. “It’s no secret that you’re under criminal indictment in this point in time - do you see that as a challenge for voters in assessing whether or not they should vote for you or not?”
“I’m not going to ignore that and I’m glad you’re starting with it,” Williams replied. “Harry Connick and Jim Garrison both went through this exact same thing. I believe the truth will come out and I will be vindicated. Voters have to ask themselves, do they believe in the presumption of innocence? That’s what I'm asking for. Whatever part of town I am in, I get so much encouragement from the people of the city who see this as a dirty political trick and they are standing by me. There’s been four or five polls in this race and I’ve led at the top in every single one of them, and that number’s only growing. It is absolutely an issue, and I’m running to redesign a system that I think has structural issues we can correct. There’s some folks that don’t like it, but we are going to win this race based on what I am seeing.”
“I think it begs the question, and I think it’s a fair one… would you hire an Assistant District Attorney who was under criminal indictment?”
“I believe firmly in the presumption of innocence,” Williams said. “A person is not just a little bit innocent until proven guilty, they are completely innocent until proven guilty. We’ve had situations where we had police officers and prosecutors with charges levied against them, and those allegations turned out to be false, those folks were vindicated, and they stayed on the force or stayed in the job in the DA’s office. I got to stand with the principles this country was founded on, and presumption of innocence is one of them.”
Listen to the entire interview with Jason Williams here: