Not that Sal Perricone wasn’t 100% right in resigning his job with the US Attorney’s office after commenting on cases he was handling because what he did was wrong from an ethical standpoint but we’ve said all along Fred Heebe had no defamation case against Perricone and the latest news that Heebe has dismissed his suit against Perricone reinforces that. In fact hanging the threat of later litigation in the dismissal motions may be sanctionable conduct on part of his lawyers according to legal observers that speak with Slabbed.
Since this whole deal broke the public has gotten to witness plenty of peacocking, huffing and puffing by many of the recipients of Perricone’s online barbs including former AUSA/Tee Vee legal analyst Donald “Chick” Foret and frankly it was over the top. In my view and despite the ethical problems associated with a prosecutors commenting online about cases they handle, most of Perricone’s comments line up nicely with sentiments expressed here on Slabbed by members of the very same legal community to which Perricone belongs, including his assertion that Heebe comes from a “long line of corruptors”.
That the various defense attorneys are using Perricone ‘s comments to the hilt should come as no surprise as these guys are seasoned enough to use all the arrows in their quiver, including gifts such as the one Perricone served up commenting on the Times Picayune. At the end of the day the upcoming prosecutions will be about the crimes alleged to have been perpetrated by the various defendants such as Big D and not what Perricone wrote on the internet though the comments guaranteed Perricone a place in the narrative regardless of his current employment status.
sop