Every single person ever prosecuted for the death penalty in Jefferson Parish has either been a minority, or has been prosecuted for killing white victims. Since the introduction of the death penalty in the modern era, 28 people have been sentenced to death in Jefferson Parish. Nineteen of those defendants were African American. In these 28 cases, the victims have been white in 21 cases, black in six, and Asian in one.

It is common knowledge that Jefferson Parish prosecutors awarded each other prizes in “celebration” of securing a death sentence. Members of the local legal community recall plaques with hypodermic needles presented to prosecutors from their colleagues. Ronnie Bodenheimer, a former prosecutor and now a former judge recently indicted for bribery and corruption, was notoriously active in such “humor”. His attorney recently told the “New Orleans Gambit” newspaper that the plaques “weren’t anything official, just an ‘atta-boy’ kind of thing between colleagues.”

The Louisiana Supreme Court recently reversed the Jefferson Parish death penalty conviction imposed upon black teenager, Edward Harris. During jury selection, assistant district attorney Caren Morgan stated that she was striking the only black male on the panel because “he was black...and I don’t want him identifying with the defendant [who was also black].” This egregious prosecutorial misconduct warranted specific mention in a recent study undertaken by the Center for Public Integrity entitled “Harmful Error: Investigating America’s Local Prosecutors”.

Race just seems to keep coming up in Jefferson Parish.

No man likes to be criticized for his taste in ties, but for two prosecutors in Jefferson Parish, their poor choice in courtroom attire dunked them in international hot water in 2002. Cameron Mary and Donnie Rowan, both of whom feature highly in the Black Strikes Hall of Shame, found themselves in a squeeze earlier this year for wearing ties featuring the grim reaper and a noose.

For any African-American in the Deep South, the image of a noose ignites memories of a shameful past. Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick agreed they were inappropriate, but no disciplinary action was taken.  Now in addition to the ties, Mary and Rowan must explain why they strike black potential jurors at more than three times the rate they strike whites.

The elected district attorney, Mr. Paul Connick, Jr., sits on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana District Attorneys Association (LDAA). The LDAA’s mission is “to improve the Criminal Justice System by promoting professionalism in Louisiana's prosecutors through education, information, liaison, and informal interaction, and to achieve objectives which will benefit and improve the office of the District Attorney.”

It is not clear who will take on the investigation of the endemic racial disparity in the use of peremptory strikes in the Jefferson Parish District attorney’s office.  Let us hope that it is a body that shares the noble goals of the LDAA and can help to put them into effect.