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EBR DA's office spending thousands not in budget on witness protection
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BATON ROUGE--For years, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's Office has had to pay out-of-pocket to keep witnesses or victims of crimes safe in order to get them to testify.
DA Hillar Moore is concerned, without adequate funding to protect witnesses, fewer people will come forward.
"It's hard for those people to live in that same neighborhood come out and testify, not to have their house shot up, not to be threatened," he said.
Moore says witness intimidation--or worse--has been a growing problem for years.
"We have witnesses that are coming forward and talking, and they're at risk of being killed. Since Hurricane Katrina, it started then, people here in Baton Rouge learned from others, we believe (in) Orleans, that when you threaten and kill people, that it's better for your criminal case. We've seen that since that time and it's been prevalent and it's been growing since then."
According to Moore, the cost of providing witness assistance, which includes housing, food, and transportation expenses is the highest it's ever been.
In 2019, the DA's office spent just $1600. $2900 In 2020; $4900 in 2021, but that number nearly tripled in 2022.
"In 2022, I think (it's) covid related and domestic violence related, we spent $13000, and that year we did see a big spike in needs for domestic violence protection."
That year happens to follow the parish's record number of homicides too.
Things relatively quieted down in 2023 when they spent $7400, but with three months still left in 2024, they've already shattered that 2022 record.
"This year we are already at almost $19000 and we can't keep up that pace."
Moore's office has had to pay for all of this, which is not part of their budget.
In 2009 there was a law passed that funded a witness protection program, but it was gutted the next year.
Similar funding attempts have also fallen to the wayside and Moore says grants are hard to come by.
"in addition to needing money we would love for someone in the community to come forward and say we have a free apartment or a free home that we would give to you if you just pay the utilities."
The Mayor's Office says they have committed to providing additional funding for witness assistance, but it's not clear yet where it will come from.
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