Defense attorney Dennis Moore says he is running for Criminal District Court Section D because he wants to make change in a system that isn’t working.
“We’ve been doing the same thing here in criminal district court in Orleans parish and none of it is working and it hasn’t been working,” Moore says. “We have a justice system that is broken; and I believe that I bring my unique experience and talents to be able to change it. I started out as a public defender and also had my private practice at the same time. So I’ve been there. I’ve seen the process and the things that are going on in criminal district court. I’ve seen the situation where you have individuals being pushed into the system and asked ‘do you want to go home?’ So they’ll plead guilty, take probation and go home; but what they don’t tell individuals that doing that their losing a lot of their rights. The judges have a unique position where you can make sure that there’s justice in the criminal justice system; and we don’t have that right now.”
If elected, Moore says he will focus on modernizing the criminal district court system.
“We have a system now that I always say is in the 19th century, not even in the 20th century,” he says. “But there is technology that’s being used all over the state of Louisiana in state and federal courts that actually help to what I would call ‘put the bright light’ into the criminal justice system. As a judge you should be able to have your docket online where everybody can see it. It’s being done right now in the state.”
From a legislative standpoint, Moore says he would urge lawmakers to move swiftly on criminal justice reform in Louisiana.
“The main issue that we have to look at is our multiple bill statues which have actually been used to actually have this over incarceration,” he says. “If you look at the inception of the multiple bill which is our version of three strikes you’re out, once they implemented that you can start seeing how a lot of people have been incarcerated and now we’re at the point where the state is broke because we have all these individuals that are in jail . . . for non-violent crimes. That actually affects the state; it affects the family and the entire community.”
