There are a lot of problems, major problems, for the legal system, among other things, in New Orleans. Many pieces of evidence and paperwork related to cases is simply gone. Does this mean that criminals are going to get released, and are they going to be able to sort all this out?
To answer some of these questions, Dan Abrams welcomed New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan to 'The Abrams Report' on Friday.
To read an excerpt of their conversation continue to the text below. To watch the video click on the "Launch" button to the right.
DAN ABRAMS: The law is about paperwork and about evidence. Do you have any sense of whether you're going to be able to deal with all this?
NEW ORLEANS D.A. EDDIE JORDAN: Well, the fact of the matter is that our local criminal justice system has a daunting challenge, and that is evidence that is under water, witnesses that are scattered
throughout the United States.
ABRAMS: Evidence under water. I mean, when you talk about evidence ... we have crime scene technicians who wear gloves so that the evidence doesn't get tainted at all. Once it's under water, a lot of it's going to be useless, right?
JORDAN: That's right. Certainly the drug evidence is going to be contaminated and perhaps useless, and much of the other evidence that we have, which is in the courthouse on Tulane and Broad (Streets) and is under water.
ABRAMS: So does this mean that people who are appealing their convictions, for example, will get released because they'll say, look, we just don't know?
JORDAN: Well, certainly not automatically, and we're going to do everything in our power to see that these individuals will get the justice that they deserve, but that's going to require my prosecutors looking at each case individually and determining whether we have the evidence to carry our burden of proof.
ABRAMS: Let's talk about some of the bodies that are going to be found in New Orleans. We talk about the fact that police are searching the streets. It seems that there's been some good news today, and that is that it appears that the body count may be far lower than had been feared. But there's no question that some of the people in New Orleans who are found will have been killed, either by criminals or possibly who were looters who were shot by homeowners.
Whatever the case may be, there will be people who will be found who will have been killed. Is that going to be a priority for you? Are you going to have to simply say, you know what, it is going to be nearly impossible for us to figure out what happened here.
JORDAN: Well we certainly want all cold-blooded killers to be behind bars, to get the justice that they deserve. But the fact of the matter is that the D.A.'s Office does not get involved until the police department have identified a perpetrator and, of course, prepared some kind of report indicating that this person has committed a crime.
ABRAMS: But, look, the police often will follow the lead of the D.A., who will say as a general matter, you know, we have to be concerned about this with regard to contamination of evidence. We have to be concerned about that. Are you expecting to make some sort of statement, some sort of effort to the police department to get them to look at X, Y, or Z?
JORDAN: If we're presented with instances where persons have been killed and we believe that there is some basis to go after some individuals in those cases, we will certainly encourage the police department to take all the necessary investigative steps to determine who those perpetrators are and to prepare the proper evidence and reports so that we can take action.
ABRAMS: Are you concerned about the future of the criminal justice system in New Orleans?
JORDAN: Well, the criminal justice system in New Orleans is really in a crisis situation. We have witnesses, as I said, across the country without witnesses. Without evidence you certainly cannot prosecute a case effectively.
ABRAMS: So with a good amount of the cases, through no fault of your own, you're going to really have to throw up your arms and just say there's nothing we can do.
JORDAN: Well I certainly hope that that's not the case, but I strongly suspect that there is a large percentage of cases that will fall in that category where we may end up having to dismiss the case.
ABRAMS: Any sense of the morale among your office, among the people in your office?
JORDAN: Well, it's hard to say. We have employees scattered throughout the United States as well, but we're all eager to go back to our jobs and to do our job to protect the citizens of New Orleans.
Watch the 'Abrams Report' for more analysis and interviews on the top legal stories each weeknight at 6 p.m. ET on MSNBC TV.
