[StBernard] Judge refused to remove AG from case

[Westley Annis]

Judge refused to remove AG from case
9/19/2006, 3:39 p.m. CT
By MARY FOSTER 
The Associated Press    

CHALMETTE, La. (AP) - A state District Court judge on Tuesday denied a
request to remove the state attorney general's office from prosecution of
the owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died during Hurricane
Katrina.

Judge Jerome Winsberg, in denying the motion by Salvador and Mabel Mangano,
owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home, said the request was premature.

The attorney for the Manganos had asked that Attorney General Charles Foti
and his office be removed from the case, in part because the Manganos have
filed a civil suit against Foti and other state officials for failing to
evacuate nursing home residents during the storm.

The Manganos claimed Foti's involvement was a conflict of interest because
of the civil lawsuit. The St. Bernard Parish district attorney's office has
recused itself from the case.

On Tuesday, James Cobb, attorney for the Manganos, asked Winsberg to appoint
a special prosecutor because the attorney general is set to present evidence
to a grand jury on Wednesday. Burton Guidry, representing the attorney
general, argued the move was premature because the Manganos have not been
indicted and may not be.

"It's quite possible a grand jury would find" that there's no case, Guidry
said.

In ruling that the motion was premature, Winsberg did not deal with the
Manganos' argument of a conflict of interest.

Winsberg postponed convening the grand jury until 11 a.m. Wednesday to allow
lawyers for the Manganos to appeal the ruling. He also imposed a gag order
on all parties in the case, including lawyers and the Manganos.

The couple was arrested late last year on negligent homicide charges but has
not been formally charged.

The deaths at St. Rita's, near the community of Poydras, came after a wall
of floodwater driven by Katrina swamped the facility. It was one of the
storm's most noted tragedies. The Manganos argued that St. Rita's had not
previously flooded, and patients weren't moved because of concerns about the
risk of moving elderly, frail patients.