Harry Connick Jr.’s Father Dead at 97

Harry Connick Sr., the daddy of singer Harry Connick Jr. and longtime district legal professional of New Orleans, has died at age 97.

Connick died peacefully at his dwelling in New Orleans together with his spouse, Londa, and youngsters — Suzanna and Harry Jr., 56 — by his facet, based on an obituary shared by Harry Jr.’s publicist.

Harry Sr. served because the district legal professional for town of New Orleans from 1973-2003, successful reelection 4 instances earlier than retiring undefeated in 2003, per the AP.

In an announcement offered to the AP, present New Orleans district legal professional Jason Williams expressed his sympathies to the Connick household.

“Mr. Connick stays the longest-tenured District Lawyer, serving from 1973-2003. Such a longstanding public servant offers an infinite quantity of themselves to their group — as do their households. Our ideas are with the Connick household throughout this troublesome time,” he wrote.

Harry Sr. was born March 27, 1926, in Cellular, Ala., and moved to New Orleans when he was 2 years outdated. He served within the Navy in World Conflict II and after he graduated from the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers, he wed Anita Frances Livingston, with whom he shared Suzanna and Harry Jr, based on the New Orleans Occasions-Picayune,

Harry Sr. owned and operated two file shops in New Orleans across the time his youngsters have been born, and per the Occasions-Picayune, he and Harry Jr have been later among the many founders of New Orleans musical group, Krewe of Orpheus.

Like his son, Harry Sr. loved music and was a daily performer at many French Quarter golf equipment, the AP reported.

His son made common journeys to go to his father, whom he known as his “hero and inspiration.”

“Hangin’ with my dad – my FAVORITE factor on the earth!,” the singer captioned an Instagram publish from October. “I come to see him about as soon as a month in new orleans and it is nonetheless not sufficient! at 97, he continues to be my hero and inspiration… i like you sooooo a lot, dad!!!”

After Livingston died from most cancers in 1981, Connick wed Londa Jean Matherne in 1995.

A wedding to Barbara Bossetta was additionally reported by the Occasions-Picayune as ending in divorce, though the dates of the wedding weren’t offered.

Based on the AP, throughout his tenure as district legal professional Harry Sr. was on the helm of motion to stop prostitutes and shut down grownup ebook retailers in New Orleans within the ’70s and ’80s and within the ’90s, pushed for the dying penalty in first-degree homicide circumstances, resulting in backlash from anti-capital punishment organizations.

“He was pushed by an unbelievable sense of justice,” protection lawyer Ralph Capitelli, who served as Harry Sr.’s deputy for a number of years, advised the Occasions-Picayune.

Pat Fanning, who was an assistant to Harry Sr. earlier than changing into a protection lawyer, additionally described the latter’s method to his work.

“He thought his job was to take individuals who victimize individuals off the road, to not rehabilitate them however to place them the place they couldn’t damage anyone else,” Fanning stated. 

In 1990, per the AP, he was charged with racketeering and aiding a sports-betting operation, although he was acquitted and continued to function district legal professional.

Based on the APf, ollowing his retirement, Harry Sr. noticed this fame challenged over claims that his workplace had deliberately withheld proof favoring defendants.

The shops referred to a 2011 case, wherein John Thompson had filed a case with the U.S. Supreme Court docket after serving 14 years in jail for a dying he was not accountable for, following prosecution by Harry Sr.’s workplace. Based on the Occasions-Picayune, a former prosecutor had later revealed that he had withheld proof within the case, which finally led to Thompson’s conviction being overturned.

In a ruling that garnered a pointy dissent from the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the Supreme Court docket finally dominated in favor of the New Orleans district legal professional’s workplace and overturned a multi-million greenback cost that had been awarded to Thompson over his wrongful conviction.

Based on a number of shops, the Supreme Court docket ruling said that the district legal professional’s workplace shouldn’t be penalized for not having specifically educated its prosecutors that they have been obligated to share proof wherein a defendant’s innocence could also be proved.

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An extra case in 2014 led to the problem being raised once more, nonetheless, although Harry Sr. didn’t remark on the time, per the AP, he did talk about his “fame” in a 2012 interview with the Occasions-Picayune.

“My fame is predicated on one thing apart from a case, or two circumstances or 5 circumstances, or one interception or 20 interceptions,” he advised the newspaper in 2012, per the 2 shops. “Have a look at the remainder of my file. … Good? No. However I’ve finished nothing to go to confession about in that workplace. In any respect.”