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Connick remained undefeated and retired in 2003. But he was later dogged by questions about whether his office withheld evidence favoring the defendants. The issue came to the fore with a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit brought by John Thompson, who was exonerated after 14 years on Louisiana’s death row for a murder he did not commit.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court vacated a $14 million award for Thompson, ruling that the New Orleans district attorney’s office should not be punished for failing to specifically train prosecutors on their evidence-sharing obligations. that could prove the innocence of an accused. In a scathing dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg condemned “Connick’s deliberately indifferent attitude.”
The issue was revived in 2014 when the murder conviction against Reginald Adams, imprisoned for 34 years, was overturned. Attorneys with the New Orleans Innocence Project presented evidence that detectives and prosecutors in the case had withheld critical information before Adams’ 1990 conviction.
Adams later received $1.25 million in a court settlement.
Connick repeatedly declined to comment on the cases. However, in 2012 he defended his legacy in an interview with The Times-Picayune tinged with sports references.
“My reputation is based on more than one case, or two cases, or five cases, or one interception or 20 interceptions. Look at the rest of my history. I have more yards than anyone,” Connick told the newspaper.
He added: “I have to look at myself and say this is who I am. This is what I have done. Perfect? No. But I haven’t done anything to confess to in that office. Absolutely.”
Current New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams expressed his condolences to Connick’s family.
“Mr. Connick remains the longest-serving district attorney, serving from 1973 to 2003. Such an experienced public servant gives an enormous amount of himself to his community, as do their families. Our thoughts are with the Connick family during this difficult time,” he said in a statement.
Connick, a Navy veteran who served in the South Pacific during World War II, raised his son to become a jazz piano prodigy, in part by arranging for the boy to sit in with Dixieland musicians from New Orleans and legends like pianist Eubie Blake and drummer Buddy. Rich.
Connick was born on March 27, 1926 in Mobile, Alabama, and moved to New Orleans with his family at age 2. By the 1970s, he had become part of the city’s political fabric.
In 1973, Connick was a little-known federal prosecutor when he faced Garrison, a three-term district attorney whose fame extended far beyond New Orleans.
“I worked as a legal aid attorney for more than three years and learned firsthand about the workings of Garrison’s office,” Connick said in a 2001 interview. “I decided I could do a better job than Jim Garrison.”
Known as “Big Jim,” the 6-foot-7 Garrison gained global publicity when he unsuccessfully prosecuted a New Orleans businessman in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and insisted it was being carried out. a massive cover-up regarding the murder. .
After Garrison lost his big case, Connick challenged him. Connick ran as a reformist and won by just over 2,000 votes.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Connick led a crackdown on prostitutes and used 19th-century morality laws to close adult bookstores in the French Quarter.
In the 1990s, anti-capital punishment groups attacked Connick for his insistence that prosecutors seek the death penalty in most first-degree murder cases.
And Connick learned firsthand how to get charged: Federal prosecutors charged him in 1990 with racketeering and assisting in a sports betting operation. The indictment alleged that Connick returned betting records to a convicted bookie who wanted the records to collect gambling debts.
Connick was acquitted and won his fourth election that same year.
For years, the elder Connick performed in weekly concerts in French Quarter nightclubs.
Connick sang standards made famous by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Louis Prima. His voice sometimes shook, but even in his later years Connick was lively and enthusiastic on stage, dancing and waving to the crowd.
His music was also politically useful. Through his concerts, Connick developed close friendships with black musicians and black voters. That was crucial for a white candidate in a city where, at the time, nearly 70% of voters were African-American.
The support of powerful black politicians was also key to his political survival. In 1996, Connick defeated a black challenger and gave credit to Mayor Marc Morial, whose supporters campaigned heavily for Connick.
Connick did not seek reelection in 2002 and was succeeded by Eddie Jordan, a former U.S. attorney who oversaw the successful prosecution of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. Edwards was convicted in 2000 of receiving bribes from interests seeking riverboat casino licenses during his last term in the 1990s.