LEGAL ACTION CHALLENGES RAPIDES DRUG COURT

A drug suspect's request to be assigned a different judge does more than
that - it challenges how the Rapides Parish Drug Court operates.

The motion, filed in 9th Judicial District Court June 26 by attorney Glenn
Cortello, seeks to have the case against McKenzy Celestine randomly
assigned to a judge.

All criminal cases except drug cases are randomly assigned. All drug,
drug-related or drug-driven cases in Rapides Parish are automatically
assigned to drug court, Cortello said.

Drug court is overseen by one judge, Tom Yeager.

Those facts violate the state statutes that enable drug courts, Cortello
claimed.

When contacted, Yeager said he was prohibited from discussing the case
until it goes to court.

A hearing is scheduled for July 16.

Participation in drug court is voluntary, and participants have to agree to
certain conditions and meet certain requirements, according to state law.

Additionally, state law prohibits any one judge from trying any particular
sort of case to the exclusion of other judges.

In other words, no single judge should hear all drug cases, he said.

To participate in drug court, a defendant must "waive the right to a trial.
The defendant must enter a plea of guilty to the charge," he said.

The decision to enter Rapides Parish drug court should be voluntary,
Cortello said. No other parish automatically assigns drug cases to drug court.

"Our investigation shows that this is the only court that is operating in
that manner in the state, in that the person accused of a drug crime or a
drug-driven offense are allowed, in other areas of the state, to go to drug
court if they so desire," he said.

Rapides drug court further violates state statues by allowing Yeager to
preside over the cases before him, Cortello said.

"The judge handling the court is not supposed to be trying" the cases,
Cortello said.

Defendants who participate in drug court have already entered guilty pleas,
so they are not tried by a judge.

However, the Rapides Parish Drug Court gives defendants the choice of
pleading not guilty. If they do, the case goes before Yeager and is not
transferred to another division.

"The problem with that is it's not what the statue says," Cortello said.
The statue says you "must waive your right to a trial and plead guilty."
Cortello said his problem is not with drug court itself. In many cases, it
can be effective. However, the decision to participate in the program
should be up to the client.

A person who does not wish to plead guilty or seek treatment should have
the option of a trial, without any drug court involvement, he said.

All cases "should be fair, where everyone's case gets pulled" and assigned
randomly.

Cortello plans to file similar motions on behalf of other defendants this week.