Justice System Faces a Deluge of Challenges

It's not just that 8,000 prisoners in and around New Orleans were evacuated in a hurry, often without a shred of paperwork, to 35 different locations. Nor that state and federal courts were shut down indefinitely, court employees and bail bondsmen were displaced and evidence perished.

It's all of the above, plus the fact that Louisiana's criminal justice system was beset by financial woes and other problems before Hurricane Katrina hit land.

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To say the system faces daunting challenges in the coming months would be an understatement.

"I can't think of a precedent anywhere near this scale," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, who has been following developments in Louisiana. "Obviously, natural disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes cause a lot of death and damage, but I don't recall an equivalent need to move an entire population of prisoners, coupled with a likely loss of court and arrest records."

Calvin Johnson, chief judge of the Orleans Parish criminal court, whose home near the New Orleans Fairgrounds was flooded, echoed that sentiment.

"I have no guidelines for this," said the 58-year-old jurist, who fled New Orleans on Aug. 28, taking "three elderly ladies" with him. "I have to make it up as I go along. I have no book to look at."

The crisis comes just five months after the Louisiana Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that the state's indigent defense system, which represents 80% of the defendants, was fundamentally flawed.

The court said the obligation of providing a functional indigent system belongs "squarely on the shoulders of the Legislature," which "may be in breach of that duty." However, the ruling did not order any specific action, and no additional funding was provided.

The hurricane recovery effort is only going to exacerbate the fiscal crisis, according to judges and legislators. The system is funded primarily by traffic ticket revenue, never a reliable source to begin with and now far less so.

"The financing of our system is suspect," Supreme Court Justice Catherine Kimbell said Saturday in a telephone interview from her home in New Roads, La., 40 miles from Baton Rouge. "Our challenges are going to be much greater than the challenges we thought were significant" before.

"We know our system is important. But we do not want to begin to interfere with funding decisions that affect food, water, shelter [and] medicine for the people who have been displaced."

Johnson, the displaced New Orleans judge, said he longed to take a walk in City Park near his home. "I get real sad" thinking about it, he said from his cellphone Saturday while driving near Baton Rouge.

Still, he said he was focused on the task ahead. He said he hoped to resume court hearings by Friday, using a courtroom in the town of Plaquemine, a 94-mile drive from New Orleans.

While acknowledging that he faced "a tall job," Johnson insisted, "We are going to operate the criminal district court and do it in conformity with the Constitution…. I assure you of that. We will ensure public safety is protected and the rights of the accused are protected."

Johnson said he was able to recover computer drives from his courthouse and had set up a temporary office at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

However, much evidence in the old building where he worked at Tulane and Broad streets in New Orleans is "under water," and there is no telling how much will be salvageable. Johnson said some evidence was sealed in plastic bags but that other items, including guns, were not and may be lost or destroyed.

Judges, court personnel, lawyers, witnesses and police officers who might have played a key role in trials are all displaced.

Last week, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco issued an executive order suspending deadlines in court cases until Sept. 25. If that order is extended, defense lawyers are likely to argue that it violates a client's right to a speedy trial.

"There is no provision in the Constitution that says it is suspended if there is a disaster," said New Orleans defense lawyer Richard C. Teissier.

Even though no rain hit Shreveport, nearly 300 miles northwest of New Orleans, Paul Carmouche, who has been the district attorney there for 27 years, said Katrina already was having an impact on the legal system. Several hundred prisoners have been relocated there.