Fallout from the “River Birch” Saga has engulfed at least one additional federal case in New Orleans, and surely more will follow. The Times-Picayune reports that: “The investigation into possible misconduct on the part of prosecutors in former U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office — an outgrowth of last year’s online-commenting scandal — is still active and may continue for ‘some time,’ court papers show. A motion filed last week with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal, on behalf of the defendants in the Danziger Bridge case, says U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt indicated at an April 16  status conference in the bridge case ‘that the investigation … might be on-going for some time.’” Defendants in the Danziger Bridge case, have claimed that the same prosecutors, Sal Perricone and Jan Mann, who corrupted the River Birch investigation, “sought to poison the jury pool through alleged leaks to the press and pseudonymous comments posted under stories about the case.” They are seeking a new trial in part on the basis of this prosecutorial misconduct. Judge Englehardt ordered an additional investigation by Department personnel – this time from outside New Orleans – and a report back to the Court. The Report was originally due in December 2012, was extended by the Court until January 2013, but the investigation apparently continues, as Judge Engelhardt has now confirmed. Stay tuned!

ANY BETS ON WHETHER THE DEPARTMENT OF “JUSTICE” ULTIMATELY DISMISSES THE CASE RATHER THAN REVEAL THE DEPTHS OF MISCONDUCT?

Photo Credit: CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Assistant U.S. attorneys Jan Mann, left, and Sal Perricone, right, talk with the media about the Moses Jefferson verdict on Aug. 21, 2009. (The Times-Picayune archive)