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Scandal in Louisiana

By cdw

via the Agitator: There?s a major scandal brewing in Louisiana?s criminal justice system. Since 1994, Chief Judge Edward Dufresne has been handling the appeals of indigent Louisiana convicts who had to file their own briefs.  Last year, the aid Dufresne had assigned to handle those appeals committed suicide.  According to his suicide note, Jarrold Peterson killed himself in part because of the guilt he faced over what he had been asked to do as part of his job. Peterson sent a posthumous letter to Louisiana?s Judiciary Commission with a damning allegation.  He said Dufresne had instructed him to deny every appeal not prepared by an attorney.  Peterson said he was instructed to write up and file the denials without every showing the appeals to the judges...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).