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NEW ORLEANS – Harry Connick Sr., the longest-serving district attorney in New Orleans history, whose colorful and often controversial 30 years in office made him one of the city’s most powerful but scrutinized politicians, has died. . He was 97 years old.
In the flamboyant, flashy style for which he was often known, Connick resigned in January 2003 and hosted a second midnight line from his office led by his son, Grammy- and Emmy-winning singer, musician and actor Harry Connick. Jr.
Connick’s father, who was first sworn in as district attorney in 1974, announced on his 76th birthday that he would be leaving office after five terms. “It’s a sad announcement for me,” Connick said at the time. “On January 10, 2003, I will stop doing what I like to do most. It is being district attorney of this great city.”
At the press conference he was surrounded by family, friends and supporters, as well as staff, prosecutors and former assistants, who later became judges of the Criminal District Court. That includes Judge Camille Buras and District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, as well as former judges Raymond Bigelow, Dennis Waldron, Terry Alarcón, Patrick Quinlan and Julian Parker.
Connick’s Beginning
In 1969, Connick was largely a political unknown when he launched his first political campaign, taking on District Attorney Jim Garrison. Although he had worked in the U.S. attorney’s office, as a legal aid defense attorney and as an attorney in private practice, Connick lost to Garrison, the incumbent for 12 years. Four years later, however, he defeated Garrison by about 2,221 votes.
When he took office in 1974, supporters said Connick revolutionized the office, which had about 7,500 cases on file, many of which dated back more than a decade. “I think it came when the DA’s office was in great turmoil, there was very little cooperation between the DA’s office and the police department, the FBI and other agencies,” Bigelow said of Connick’s retirement. “I think Harry was able to put a lot of things together.”
Decision challenges
Bold and brash, sometimes combative and bearing the image of a reformer, Connick’s three decades in office were not without controversy. In fact, some of the cases he and his staff tried continued to make headlines decades later.
Connick and some members of his former staff were criticized for mishandling evidence in dozens of cases, leading to convictions being overturned or withdrawn based on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. In particular, John Thompson’s 1985 death sentence was overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct. The U.S. Supreme Court later acquitted the district attorney’s office of a $14 million judgment in the Thompson case, saying the office could not be held liable for failing to train prosecutors to turn over evidence based on a case only.
His office made decisions that were cchallenged by the Innocence Projectand according a 2012 story in the Times-PicayuneThat organization said the number of Connick’s overturned convictions based on allegations of misconduct is in the “dozens.”
Connick, in the same article, defended his record, although he admitted that it was not perfect.
“My reputation is based on more than just one case, or two cases, or five cases, or one interception, or 20 interceptions. Look at the rest of my record. I have more yards than anyone,” Connick said.
“Would the fact that they struck out a lot make the legacy of Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth?” he continued. “I have to look at myself and say this is who I am. This is what I’ve done. Perfect? No. But I haven’t done anything to come clean in that office. At all.”
There was also the 1995 overturning of Curtis Kyles’ conviction for the 1984 murder of Dolores “Dee” Dye. Kyles spent 11 years on death row before the Supreme Court dismissed the case due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Connick staunchly defended his prosecutors’ actions, maintained a tough stance against violent crime and said the high number of prosecutions clouds his record. His office handled about 2,200 trials during the last five years of his tenure, equal to more than a third of all criminal cases tried in Louisiana during that time. “Also note that there are 1,000 confirmed cases and convictions,” Connick told The Times-Picayune in a 2003 article. “Don’t judge me by the exceptions.”
Connick also drew criticism from defense attorneys for his frequent resistance to plea bargaining. “We don’t negotiate much with his rights, his interests and his security,” he told his supporters at one of his re-election inauguration events.
He also frequently fought with judges he disagreed with, and was known as a politician who spoke his mind, which earned him followers and a fair share of detractors. One example came at a news conference he held with his successor, Eddie Jordan, in 2003. “This city is pretty stingy when it comes to the needs of this office and the needs of law enforcement and the courts,” he said, when asked what Jordan’s biggest challenge would be.
In 1990, Connick was put on trial. He was acquitted by a federal jury of racketeering charges accusing him of wrongly returning confiscated records to a bookmaker.
Towards the end of his career, he took a strong stance against illegal drugs and advocated for drug testing in schools. “That is our great and serious social problem in this country. It’s the terror of this country,” he said of illegal drugs in a 2002 interview.
Connick’s life before the district attorney.
Although his name figured prominently in New Orleans politics, Joseph Harry Fowler Connick was actually a native of Mobile, Alabama. Connick’s father, one of eight children, was transferred to New Orleans to work in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when his daughter was two years old.
After graduating from high school, Connick served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Connick met his first wife, Anita Livingston Connick, after she left the service and was working for the Corps of Engineers in Morocco. After returning to New Orleans, they studied at Loyola University School of Law and Tulane University running a record store, Studio A, on Marshall Foch St. in Lakeview. Anita Connick died in 1981.
The Connicks had two children: a daughter, Suzanna; and a son, Harry Jr., who was a musical prodigy and made headlines even when he was a child. In an interview with Angela Hill, Harry Connick Sr. recounted the young singer’s early musical training.
“I was worried about Harry going to New York, so I sought help from Ellis Marsalis. Harry had just turned 18, had finished NOCCA, and was studying at Loyola. He was afraid that he would go to New York. But Ellis gave me good advice. He said it’s time for him to go. We knew he had talent, but could he do it?”
“So Harry came to the house and said, ‘Dad, I really want to go to New York,’ and I said, ‘Okay, you can go.’ He said, ‘But I want your blessing.’ I said, ‘You have my blessing.’ He said, ‘Well, what will I live on?’ I told him, ‘It seems like you want more than my blessing,’” the elder Connick laughed.
When his son’s music career exploded in the 1990s, the elder Connick embarked on his own singing career, performing with his big band in local clubs and cabarets and even recording albums.
“I’ve been able to work singing, which I love to do, and that’s why it became a regular thing for me and I do it regularly with Jimmy Maxwell and in other clubs in the city,” he said in an interview.
He and his son helped form the all-star group Orpheus Carnival in 1993, bringing famous friends to the city to participate in the annual Lundi Gras parade.
Described by Time magazine as “The Singing District Attorney,” during his 30 years in office, Connick became a major power broker in local politics and his endorsement of a candidate or his disdain for a judge or member of the judicial system had weight.
“When he wants to get involved in something, he gets really involved. He has a very high profile, like he had a disagreement with a judge, you know,” said former Loyola University political science professor and WWL-TV political analyst Ed Renwick in an article commemorating Connick’s retirement.
Politically, Connick benefited from years of support from the Morial family and the LIFE political organization founded by former Mayor “Dutch” Morial and later headed by his son, Mayor Marc Morial.
Two of his nephews, Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. and State Representative Patrick Connick, followed him into public service. His brothers, Paul Connick Sr. and William “Billy” Connick were also very involved in political circles at the state and local level.
In addition to his son, daughter and several grandchildren, Connick is survived by his wife, Loda.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced at this time.
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