A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Story From New Orleans

The following report of Criminal Defense Attonrey Donald A. Sauviac, Jr holed up in his flooded house appears at the Citizen Journallist website here

By Donald A. "Donny" Sauviac, Jr.
Updated: 5:08 p.m. ET Sept. 1, 2005

I am Donald A. Sauviac, Jr. a criminal defense attorney. As of Thursday Sept 1, 2005 at 7:49 a.m.,  I am holed up in a third generation family home located at Weiblen and Vicksburg Streets in the Lakeview area of New Orleans. My wife and four daughters left just before the storm and managed to make it to Memphis, Tenn. where they have three rooms with friends who left Metairie. I have two collie dogs and a bird here with me. The dogs are holding up on the second story flat roof with the generator. I am on the second story of the house a converted double. I have a 22 ft. pontoon boat tied up on the side street. I have plenty of food and water. I keep using the generator to charge up my phone and listen to the radio to figure out what is going on around me. I just moved into this house from a house in Metairie, which is known for flooding. As fate would have it the Metairie house that was up for sale is high and dry with no apparent damage.

The house I'm in had calf high water up to the second step of the inside stairwell. The water has subsided in the last day it only covers the first step. (the house is up on piers and from the sidewalk it comes up to my chest standing -- I guess the total depth was about 5 ft. Until yesterday I had clear running water in the upstairs sink, toilet and tub -- probably
ok for washing off but not to drink. In a two block are there seems to be about a dozen people who are staying at this time. We check in on each other and talk by wading down and/or from windows or rooftops.

For the past few days I was charging on neighbors cell phone with the generator and used that phone occasionally to get a call out. At this time I have cell service in the very early a.m. and late p.m. I even have wireless Internet service which just started working. My wife and children are frantic they want me to leave but I won't. This was my maternal grandparents' house that I as a child evacuated to during hurricane Betsy when my parents home in Gentily went underwater and we were evacuated by boat.

This is a very strong house, I laid on a mattress on the second floor during this hurricane with a rosary in one hand and the other hand uplifted praying the Hail Mary over and over probably 10,000 plus times. I am Catholic but no ultra religious -- until now. I promised never to not evacuate in the future when told to do so if I just made it through this one. I kept hearing the 140 mph, wind hitting the house a nearly 100-year-old wood framed shot gun. I kept waiting for something to give.
It never did. A tree fell on the back added on portion but seems to have done little damage and quite a bit of the seal tab roofing has blown off in certain places from what I can see.

As I stand now, I have 5 gallons of gas for the generator (So far I have used 5 gals since the storm) I have I have 16 gals of water (I have used 3 on me and 5 for my dogs) have two 101 qt ice chests that still have some ice (the 5 day story is probably true) and I have food for about a week I have been trying to eat the things that will probably spoil and my dogs
have been eating better than normal -- they won't touch the dog food since they are getting the extra table food so to say.

My fan and radio batteries have held out very well. I call in a list of things to my brother in Baton Rouge and he is gonna try and get them to me if he can find a friend with a flat boat. I have a lot of furniture and clothing on the second, floor, which is fine. I have a lot of things downstairs, which are either ruined, or about to be ruined in the dark cold water that came inside. Everything in my two garages is probably ruined. My N.O. law office is a few blocks away on Canal Blvd.

Historically I never got water at Weiblen or at Canal Blvd. I went there by boat two days ago and have about 5 feet of water in the office, which is on a hill with a deep underpass. I parked a 1983 El Camino that I was restoring there and it is either completely under water or gone. I had a second small boat there, which has sunk. My daughter's car was in the shop
and I would bet money it is under water. Also my car sunk when I tried to get in from my house two blocks down when I noticed the storm was over and the water was surprisingly starting to rise.

The water is from a breech in the 17th Street Canal levee which separates Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. I believe the extra water in N.O. is from the pumping efforts in Jefferson. Jefferson pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, which went into the 17th street canal which went into Lakeview.

I did assist in one rescue while surveying my office from a distance I was summoned to help get an old lady off the roof of her house. My boat a party (fishing) barge was too large to go in the back way and a small flat boat got to her first.

Again, my wife and kids want me to leave but I really can't risk that for the past few days I have had numerous offers from police, fire and volunteers in here in boats but there are too many things I am attempting to save by carrying out when the chaos settles for now I'm fine. My boat does not allow me to get over railroad  tracks or under the flooded underpasses. If I left now I would have to abandon the boat and contents. I am searching for an alternate route, probably going to mid city,
Gentilly or further then getting into Lake Pontchartrain and then going to the Bonnable Boat launch in Metairie.

Unfortunately I would be on ground level without all of the items I have here and would still be without car, electric, running water and probably few neighbors to assist. I might also be precluded from returning to my N.O. home. Right now I don't have the looting etc., which has made the news, I am sitting here with a 5 ft moat and armed to the hilt. If I get out I will be at the mercy of maybe being picked up after days of waiting without necessities and without any say so where I may be relocated -- probably in the opposite direction of my wife and kids and certainly away from the multiple properties I am trying to protect.

Therefore I am waiting and planning to survey, pack and remove what I can, so my family will have some clothes and items other than what they left town a few days ago with. I have to survey my new satellite office in Houma as a possible temporary office relocation site. I think the damage there is also bad but my wife thinks otherwise I have had no contact there
to make that determination at this time.

I have no idea of how long I can hold out but know it won't be more than 1 1/2 - 2 weeks more. My family will be in desperate need of assistance, which I am trying to coordinate from here by passing on info through my wife and brother. I love this house and neighborhood. ... I would like to get some info out to my friends nationwide that I am alive and holding up well.

Where are our Clients?

Many of our members are concerned about their incarcerated clients who have been displaced by Katrina, including pre-trial detainees who may not even have counsel appointed or bond set. So far, our efforts to get a handle on what prisoners have been moved where have not born much fruit. I contacted the Office of Emergency preparedness but was no current information is available. So far the only information we have has come through the media.

The Shreveport Times reports here that "About 200 prisoners were brought to Caddo Correctional Center; 311 inmates to Bossier Parish's maximum-security jail, the newest lockup of the parish jail complex off Old Plain Dealing Road. The prisoners came by school buses and state Corrections Department buses and vans from Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, where they were transported earlier in the week from flooded facilities in the New Orleans area."


Tha AP is reporting here that "More than 7,600 prisoners were transported out of the New Orleans area," but does nto say where they are being sent. the article quotes Pam Laborde, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. I have not bee succesful in gettign through to anyone with DOC.

If you know of any information about relocation of prisoners please place a post here.

Help from Thomson-West

I received word late this evening from NACDL President Barbara Bergman, that Thomson-West is coming to the aid of lawyers needing to rebuild practices disrupted by Katrin.
Specifically Thomson-West customers who have been displaced by the disaster should contact the Customer Service at 1-800-328-4880, ext. 67281, to let Thomson-West know that they'’re safe. When they'’re ready to get back on their feetThomsonon-West is ready to help.
-Affected Westlaw customers can contact their Sales representative or call Customer Service to access a complimentary Westlaw password.
-Thomson West Reference Attorneys are standing by to help support customers'’ research needs.
Thomson West's Technology organization can help establish new high-speed connections to support customer's practices. -And, when it'’s time to re-open offices, Thomson West will work with customers to help them rebuild their West print library.

Find details at West's web site Here

Katrina's effect on Louisiana's legal system

On Wednesday, Southern Law School Professor Michelle Ghetti's posted an email to the LACDL List-serve relating Katrina's impact on the legal system and legal profession in stark simple terms. I can't improve on her description:

I know your hearts, in particular, are for lawyers. Think of this...

5,000 - 6,000 lawyers (1/3 of the lawyers in Louisiana) have lost their offices, their libraries, their computers with all information thereon, their client files - possibly their clients, as one attorney who e-mailed me noted. As I mentioned before, they are scattered from Florida to Arizona and have nothing to return to. Their children's schools are gone and, optimistically, the school systems in 8 parishes/counties won't be re-opened until after December. They must re-locate their lives.

Our state supreme court is under some water - with all appellate files and evidence folders/boxes along with it. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals building is under some water - with the same effect. Right now there may only be 3-4 feet of standing water but, if you think about it, most files are kept in the basements or lower floors of courthouses. What effect will that have on the lives of citizens and lawyers throughout this state and this area of the country? And on the law?

The city and district courts in as many as 8 parishes/counties are under water, as well as 3 of our circuit courts - with evidence/files at each of them ruined. The law enforcement offices in those areas are under water - again, with evidence ruined. 6,000 prisoners in 2 prisons and one juvenile facility are having to be securely relocated. We already have over-crowding at most Louisiana prisons and juvenile facilities. What effect will this have? And what happens when the evidence in their cases has been destroyed? Will the guilty be released upon the communities? Will the innocent not be able to prove their innocence?

Our state bar offices are under water. Our state disciplinary offices are under water - again with evidence ruined. Our state disciplinary offices are located on Veteran's Blvd. In Metairie. Those of you who have been watching the news, they continue to show Veteran's Blvd. It's the shot with the destroyed Target store and shopping center under water and that looks like a long canal. Our Committee on Bar Admissions is located there and would have been housing the bar exams which have been turned in from the recent July bar exam (this is one time I'll pray the examiners were late in turning them in - we were set to meet in 2 weeks to go over the results). Will all of those new graduates have to retake the bar exam?

Two of the 4 law schools in Louisiana are located in New Orleans (Loyola and Tulane - the 2 private ones that students have already paid about $8,000+ for this semester to attend). Another 1,000+ lawyers-to-be whose lives have been detoured. I've contacted professors at both schools but they can't reach anyone at those schools and don't know the amount of damage they've taken. Certainly, at least, this semester is over. I'm trying to reach the Chancellor's at Southern and LSU here in Baton Rouge to see if there's anything we can do to take in the students and/or the professors. I think I mentioned before, students from out of state have been stranded at at least 2 of the other universities in New Orleans - they're moving up floor after floor as the water rises. Our local news station received a call from some medical students at Tulane Medical Center who were now on the 5th floor of the dormitories as the water had risen.&nbs p; One of them had had a heart attack and they had no medical supplies and couldn't reach anyone - 911 was busy, local law enforcement couldn't be reached, they were going through the phone book and reached a news station 90 miles away!! It took the station almost 45 minutes to finally find someone with FEMA to try to get in to them!!

And, then, there are the clients whose files are lost, whose cases are stymied. Their lives, too, are derailed. Of course, the vast majority live in the area and that's the least of their worries. But, the New Orleans firms also have a large national and international client base. For example, I received an e-mail from one attorney friend who I work with on some crucial domestic violence (spousal and child) cases around the nation - those clients could be seriously impacted by the loss, even temporarily, of their attorney - and he can't get to them and is having difficulty contacting the many courts around the nation where his cases are pending. Large corporate clients may have their files blowing in the wind where the high rise buildings had windows blown out.

I woke up this morning to the picture of Veteran's Blvd which made me think of my students who just took the bar. My thoughts wandered from there to the effect on the Disciplinary Offices. Then my thoughts continued on. I'm sure I'm still missing a big part of the future picture. It's just devastating. Can you imagine something of this dimension in your state?

Michelle

Professor Michelle Ghetti
Southern University Law Center
Baton Rouge, LA 70813
225-771-4900

Court Closings & Openings as of September 2, 2005

On Wednesday, August 31, 2005, Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeals Clerk/Court Administrator, Diana Pratt-Wyatt 318 227-3702, put out the following information.

The Louisiana Supreme Court, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal are currently closed until further notice due to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina in south Louisiana. Operational plans for the courts are currently being devised and will be issued as soon as possible. Information about these courts will continue to be posted to the following Courts of Appeal websites as it becomes available.

www.lacoa2.org
www.la-fcca.org
www.la3circuit.org



You can email Diana at: CLerkdpw@lasccoa.state.la.us
As of this posting, the Louisiana Supreme Court Website, is still not operational.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Website indicate the emergency "command post" for the court is currently located in Houston at the district court

The website provides the following Information for Attorneys and Litigants:

1. Do not send any filings or documents to New Orleans at this time.

2. All filing deadlines on or after August 24 through September 9 are automatically extended until September 12, subject to further extension. Before filing, check our internet website as set out below.

3. Attorneys and litigants are directed regularly to check our internet website, www.ca5.uscourts.gov for additional instructions and information.

4. True emergency matters, e.g. death penalty cases with execution dates, or deportation matters with an imminent and confirmed deportation dates, may be filed by FAX at 713-250- 5050 or mailed or delivered to:

Chambers of Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King
Rm. 11020
515 Rusk Street
Houston, Texas 77002.

Questions or comments can be sent to Webmaster_ca5@_ca5.uscourts.gov


The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas reports on its home page that its main internet server which is located in New Orleans, LA is down. It is currently operation on its COOP internet server which contains important messages such as filing extensions, court relocation notices etc. in the case of an emergency or crises. The court does not anticipate any delays in the court schedule

Likewise the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi reports on its website that its main internet server which is located in New Orleans, LA is down and awaiting restoration of power in the meantime it will continue to post important messages on its COOP internet server


The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana website has the following notice:

The offices of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana are closed until further notice. By order of Chief Judge Helen G. Berrigan, all deadlines and delays in matters pending before this court are suspended until ordered otherwise.

Let us know you are safe.

The LACDL and the NACDL list-services are abuzz with lawyers looking for displaced LACDL members. If you have been displaced, we are looking for you. Let us know where you are and what you need. Leave your name and location and way we can contact you in a comment to this post.

Baton Rouge Bar Association Response to Hurricane Katrina

Dear Friends,

All of us in the Baton Rouge area extend our hopes and prayers to those of us with family and friends in the areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. In these last two or three days, we have been working at the Middleton Bar Center to assist lawyers throughout the state and the people who will be seeking refuge in Baton Rouge. At this point, we are the largest Bar Association that has an operational office in this state, and we intend to make our assets available to help everyone we can.

From the start, we have offered the Louisiana State Bar Association any and all assistance we can give. The LSBA President is Frank Neuner of Lafayette, but the LSBA office in New Orleans is inaccessible. We provided the LSBA with unlimited use of our staff conference room, and we are making our entire facility as available as possible, while still meeting our core responsibilities to our local members. The LSBA can restore its communications once it can get access to its servers. Since Tuesday, we have been receiving inquiries from state and local bar associations throughout the country, offering assistance and support in every possible way. In order to receive funds, the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation will be accepting monetary donations in any amount for deposit into an account in a local bank to provide monetary aid to lawyers who have lost their homes and offices in the storm. Checks should be payable to the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation; please note on the check "LSBA Hurricane Relief." As soon as the Louisiana State Bar Foundation members can be assembled (many are displaced as well), the exact criteria for disbursements to those in need will be established. As soon as the Foundation is operating from its remote office, all funds will be turned over (and we will continue to collect and remit funds and provide receipts for as long as the money comes in). Please note this money is not being used for just those lawyers who have to relocate to Baton Rouge, which is why the disbursements will be handled by the statewide organization. (For those who wish to make monetary donations for the general public, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (http://www.braf.org) has two separate funds designated for displaced people in Baton Rouge and recovery efforts in New Orleans).

In addition, the BRBA will be hosting a hotline at our office that will be run by the Louisiana State Bar Association, American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division, and the Baton Rouge Bar Association to provide free legal assistance to those displaced by the hurricane. The panel of these volunteers will be assembled by the Young Lawyers Division to work with people on a statewide basis.

Locally, the BRBA is trying to coordinate efforts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross to be trained in connection with the forms that the displaced people, particularly those living in the emergency shelters, will need to complete in order to obtain assistance. Because the access to this information will be limited at the shelters, our plan is to assemble teams of BRBA members who can staff tables; this is perhaps not legal help in its purest sense, but just fresh eyes and sharp minds being lent to some people who are in desperate need. More information on this initiative will be forthcoming once the details are ironed out. If you are interested in signing up for this volunteer work, please reply to this email and ask to be signed up on the list that we will begin to construct today.

Finally, the BRBA will serve as a clearinghouse for any lawyers who wish to provide or rent space to displaced lawyers. If you have any space that you could provide on a short-term basis, please reply to this email with details on the space, your exact location, and phone numbers where you can be reached (night and day, if possible), and we start our "supply list". Our ability to reach these lawyers who have been displaced is quite limited with email at this point, but word of mouth will likely lead to a flood of calls from lawyers from the areas who have lost the use of their offices due to the flood. Please have any lawyer who may need help from us call the Bar Center at 344-4803 to be put on the "needs list."

The members of the Baton Rouge Bar Association are special group of people, and our Association is recognized as one of the finest in the country. There has perhaps never been a greater need to which we can respond. Please, sign up for these programs, volunteer at the shelters, donate money, take in a lawyer, and help any way that you can.

Gregory E. Bodin,
President, Baton Rouge Bar Association

Ann G. Scarle, Executive Director
Baton Rouge Bar Association
P. O. Box 2241
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Phone: 225-214-5563
Fax: 225-344-4805

Tell us what you need. Help is on the way!

Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Katrina Relief Blog

The great frustration that many in and outside of the legal community are feeling at this moment is the frustration of not knowing what we can do to help. If you are a displaced Louisiana Criminal Defense Lawyer we want to know what we can do to help you. Tell us where you are, where your office was, what you need to stabilize yourself, your family and your practice.LACDL is responding. Our list-service is up and running, and much good information is being posted. Our executive committee met in a teleconference this morning to begin assessing the impact of Katrina on our organization and what LACDL can do to help its membership rebuild. Participating in the phone conference were NACDL President Barbra Bergman, President-elect Marty Pinales, and Presidents Mike Snure of the Flordia Association of Criminal Defense lawyers and Joe Van Hest of the Alabama associatin of Criminal Defense lawyers. A number of issue were identified that need to be addresed immediately including:
1. An Internet bulliten board to coordinate and match displaced lawyers with members who can provide assistance.
2. Monetary Assistance to help dispalced lawyers rebuidl their practices.
3. Locating incarcerated clients who have been relocated
4. Finding ways to communicate with relocated members
5. The impact of Katrina on scheduled LACDL programs and events

The outpouring of relief is enormous.

NACDL has established established a new Katrina Disaster Bulletin Board. Members in the affected areas can post messages and NACDL members nationwide can respond. The new Bulletin Board is at www.nacdl.org/relief.Members can offer assistance and those in need can learn about the assistance being offered. To access the site, either enter your NACDL user name and password, or enter "katrinarelief" as the user name and "help" as the password. (these are case sensitive)

NACDL has designated Alison Sterling as its Katrina Disaster Relief Coordinator. Her job for the next several months will be to field phone calls and e-mail messages from members in LA, AL, MS, and elsewhere, and to serve as a clearinghouse for offers of help and requests for assistance. She will also be monitoring the new Katrina Disaster Bulletin Board and serve as a conduit for communications among members. Further, Alison will have information available about relief efforts and organizations that are providing humanitarian assistance on-the-ground. Her phone number is 202-872-8600 x248 and her e-mail is alison@nacdl.org.

NACDL members can make tax-deductible contributions to the Foundation for Criminal Justice and its Katrina Disaster Relief Fund online at: http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/FoundationGiving?openform. NACDL has donated $5,000 to this fund. After the needs of affected NACDl members are better known NACDL plans to provide cash grants and loans to help defense lawyers get back on their feet.

The Baton Rouge Bar Foundation is also accepting donations to provide monetary aid to lawyers who have lost their homes and offices in the storm. Checks should be payable to the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation; please note on the check "LSBA Hurricane Relief," for more info go to http://www.brba.org.

Many people are offering places to stay. Southern University Law Professor Michelle Ghetti reports that a Baton Rouge group is coordinating to connect those with places to stay with those without places to live. You can access the website at www.shareyourhome.org and input your information. You will then be coordinated, through the organization, with someone who matches your need/offer. Your offer can be specific as to #, types of people, pets, etc. For example, one family with teenage girls didn't want to take in teenage boys. No place is necessarily too far away.

The group of lawyers has legal forms necessary to protect you and the family staying with you and those will be available through the website. If you cannot access the website for some reason, you can call 1-888-827-2525.

The LSBA office in New Orleans is currently inaccessible, but the Baton Rouge Bar Association is providing LSBA with temporary space. The LSBA can restore its communications once it can get access to its servers.

The LACDL Board will meet in Alexandria on Saturday September 17th, to continue focusing our effort to provide relief to our affected members.