Jindal signs bill allowing phone-in bail bond orders for suspects' release
by John Simerman - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday signed legislation granting Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judges the power to set their own rules for phoning in bond orders and inmate releases. The 12 district judges, along with Magistrate Judge Gerard Hansen and Criminal Court Clerk Arthur Morrell, pressed Jindal to back the legislation, House Bill 581, over the objections of District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. Last year, Cannizzaro persuaded Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman to stop accepting phone-in bond orders from the judges. Cannizzaro was irate that Judge Frank Marullo had called in a release order for Danielle Hampton after her arrest for allegedly lying on the witness stand to lend Uptown crime kingpin Telly Hankton an alibi in a murder trial that ended deadlocked in July.