Chappaquiddick on Bayou St. John – New Orleans, La.
Michelle M. Haensel Memorial Web Site
See original letter published in the Times Picayune Newspaper
The Times-Picayune
New Orleans, Louisiana
March 10, 1997
Parole
board letters decried
To the Editor:
Your recent
articles on influential letters to the State Parole Board struck a familiar
chord. This kind of misuse of trust an influence is found not only at the
Parole Board but also in the courts.
I write
from personal experience. In 1995 my daughter was a vehicular homicide victim.
A Louisiana State University Medical School doctor was convicted on Nov. 30,
1995. He was placed in jail on Dec. 5, 1995 by the trial court judge.
Shortly
thereafter, numerous letters on LSUMC, LSUSD, LSUSM, LSU Eye Center and state
Department of Health letterheads were sent to the judge urging compassion and
leniency if not outright forgiveness for the convicted felon because of the
involvement of alcohol. Unfortunately for the institutions, the judge placed
their letters on public display with other case proceedings.
The
letters are still on public display at the Orleans Parish Criminal Court record
room. To view the letters now, follow the links. The dentist and doctors who wrote these letters are as follows:
Donald R. Bergsma, Jr., MD - LSU Eye Center, Professor of Ophthalmology
Michael S. Block, DMD Dental School, Assistant Dean
Andrew K. Chang, DDS, MD - LSU Dental School
W. Scott Griffies, MD - LSU Medical School - Asst. Professor of Psychiatry
Richard F. Howes, MD - LSU Medical School, Director Pediatric Dept.
John N. Kent, DDS - LSU Dental School, Boyd Professor and Head
Kenneth E. Kratz, PhD -LSU Medical Center, Professor of Anatomy
Fred A. Loe, DDS - LSU Dental School, Assistant Clinical Professor
Francine Morrison, MD - Louisiana Dept. of Hospitals, Psychiatrist
Dennis St. Clair, LSU Dental School - University Administrative Specialist
William H. Wood, DDS, MS - LSU Dental School, Associate Professor
The LSU
Medical Center Chancellor, unlike his counterpart at LSU, did not make a public
statement regarding the inappropriate behavior of his leadership nor did he
write the trial court judge correcting the situation. This kind of
inappropriate behavior will continue because there is no policing or
consequence attached to such action.
The state
spends substantial money to apprehend, investigate, and convict criminals and
then another part of the state bureaucracy tries to undo the process. How
ridiculous.
W. B.
Haensel, Jr.