WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |LA Constitution Allows Attorney General to Pursue Pou Case Further

LA Constitution Allows Attorney General to Pursue Pou Case Further

The Hurricane Katrina murder charge against Dr. Anna Pou is not dead after all. The Louisiana Constitution allows for the state attorney general to "supersede" a district attorney's authority. So, will Charles Foti prosecute the case himself? WAFB's Jim Shannon has the story.

Tuesday, Attorney General Charles Foti explained his disappointment in the findings of an Orleans Parish grand jury. Foti maintains that Dr. Pou should stand trial for the deaths of four patients at Memorial Hospital in the aftermath of Katrina. An expert in the state constitution says there is a provision that would allow Foti to prosecute Pou himself. LSU law professor Cheney Joseph says, "If the attorney general feels that it's in the interest of the state that the D.A. step aside, the attorney general has the right to file an action in the district court. As I pointed out, the constitution provides in the jurisdiction where the offense occurred."

During Tuesday's question and answer with reporters, Foti left the door open when he said his experts did not testify before the grand jury. He says, "We had five experts that we had review the now nine counts. Each of the five experts, independent of all, concluded there was a homicide. The experts were not called before the grand jury."

The decision whether to prosecute the case himself lies with Charles Foti, but he has case law on his side. In East Baton Rouge Parish, former District Attorney Brian Bush was involved in a case in which then Attorney General Billy Guste came in and took over. The Louisiana Supreme Court has also weighed in on this statute. Professor Joseph says, "It upheld in one case the power of the attorney general to set the district attorney aside and take over the matter."

So, if Foti really believes that Pou is guilty, the Louisiana Constitution gives him the green light. "Well, the constitution says for cause. It does not define what cause means," says Joseph. We asked the attorney general's office if they planned to pursue that avenue. We received no response.

Reporter:  Jim Shannon, WAFB 9NEWS