Was a public defender mistreated in a New Orleans, Criminal District Court?
New Orleans:
The Judiciary Commission should investigate the summary ejection of an Orleans Parish public defender from Criminal District Court during a hearing about his client, which resulted in the lawyer being roughed up by sheriff's deputies, Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton said this week.
Bunton said defense attorney Stuart Weg was trying to persuade Judge Benedict Willard to release a man incorrectly picked up on a warrant meant for another person. During this discussion, Willard at some point directed the sheriff deputies who serve in his courtroom to remove Weg, according to a letter Bunton sent this week to the Judiciary Commission, the arm of the Louisiana Supreme Court that investigates judges, Weg was booked by the deputies with battery, criminal trespass and resisting arrest. He suffered "bruised ribs" during the arrest, the letter stated.
Link: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/12/public_defender_mistreated_in.html