NEW ORLEANS - Lawyers for the district attorney in New Orleans are asking a federal appeals court to end a lawsuit centred on his office having used fake subpoenas to coerce unco-operative witnesses. Attorneys representing Leon Cannizzaro and some of his staff were set to argue Wednesday that the prosecutors are legally immune from claims made in a 2017 lawsuit by criminal justice advocates. The case is before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Last year, a federal judge agreed that prosecutors had immunity from some of the claims in the lawsuit. Also challenged in the suit are aspects of the district attorney’s office’s use of “material witness” warrants that can lead to the jailing of unco-operative witnesses.

Source: thestar February 05, 2020 06:00 UTC