Haney, the 12-year district attorney for Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes, has been charged by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of violating conflict of interest codes related to a civil case he represented through his private practice in 2007. The charges stem from a complaint filed by former state Sen. Troy Hebert, Haney’s longtime public rival who now heads the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.
If found guilty, Haney faces potential probation, suspension or even permanent disbarment from practicing law in Louisiana.
According to testimony, Haney was retained in a civil case by Stephanie Provost, who was injured in a boating accident in which her boyfriend was the owner and driver of the boat. According to Haney, he was unaware when he took the case that her boyfriend was issued two citations by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in relation to the boating accident.
Haney maintains that when his office learned of the criminal charges against Provost’s boyfriend, he immediately recused his office from handling the criminal case against her boyfriend and forwarded the case to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Haney, who worked as an assistant DA in the 16th for more than 20 years before becoming district attorney, testified that he did not see a conflict of interest because Provost did not pursue criminal charges against her boyfriend (the defendant), nor did Provost face criminal charges related to the case.
But ODC lawyer Fred Ours argued Tuesday that Provost was a witness in her boyfriend’s criminal case, which also ended in her boyfriend having to write a letter of apology to Provost.
Haney received a $20,000 contigency fee through his representation of Provost.
The ODC attorney also pointed to a February 2007 ethics advisory opinion issued by the Louisiana State Bar Association, which states that “in the event the conflict of interest arises after the civil representation is undertaken, the prosecutor should withdraw from the matter in all respects.”
“If law enforcement files charges in a homicide case, could the district attorney represent the victim’s family in a wrongful death case?” Ours argued Tuesday.
The hearing Tuesday is the first of three phases related to Haney’s ethics charges. Information from the hearing will be forwarded to the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, which will issue a public report that then goes to the Louisiana Supreme Court for a final decision.
MAY 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.
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