Cannizzaro presents case for removing criminal court judges
by John Simerman - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro may have recused himself in the probe of a slush fund controlled by criminal court judges, but he has laid out a scorching legal road map for state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's office, arguing that the judges are guilty of malfeasance and gross misconduct, and should be subject to removal from office. In a five-page letter dated Aug. 4, Cannizzaro accuses the criminal district judges of: •Illegally ordering convicts to pay into the Judicial Expense Fund under the threat of revoking their probation and packing them off to jail. •Knowingly padding their salaries illegally through supplemental health and life insurance policies paid for through the fund. •Failing to ever conduct an audit of the fund, despite a state mandate for annual audits.