District Attorney Perry Nicosia discusses plans to target violent and habitual offenders, as well as a new pre-trial diversion program for first-time offenders

District Attorney Perry Nicosia speaks to the Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard.

Shown at a Kiwanis Club luncheon are, from left, Sheriff James Pohlmann, Assistant District Attorney Tim Farrelly, Capt. John Gutierrez, chief investigator for the District Attorney’s office; District Attorney Perry Nicosia and Mitch Perkins, Kiwanis Club president.

District Attorney Perry Nicosia said his office will strike a balance: vigorously prosecuting violent and habitual offenders while having a diversion program for first-time, non-violent offenders which offers them a chance to avoid a criminal record if they stick to the rules and don’t get in further trouble.

“We will target violent criminals and habitual offenders’’ and they will be fast-tracked for trial, Nicosia told the Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard.

But he also said, “We need to determine the truly criminal and those not inherently a criminal,’’ but who are dealing with problems that might be overcome.
Nicosia said a drug or alcohol dependency is often at the root of non-violent crimes and he outlined his new pre-trial diversion plan for first-time, non-violent offenders to help overcome problems leading to crime, rather than simply give them a criminal record.

They would have to go through a set of steps to evaluate their problems and deal with them, he said.

It would be for those who “have a chemical addiction but aren’t really criminals,’’ Nicosia said.

He has also said his office will work to try to get in-patient and out-patient treatment services in St. Bernard Parish for people with drug and alcohol problems.

Someone in diversion has to agree to be evaluated, get treatment and counseling and be regularly drug-tested.

Nicosia emphasized an offender who slips-up in the diversion program would lose the chance to have a case dismissed and, instead, go back into the system on the regular court docket to be adjudicated. “You must stay out of trouble and complete the program.’’

“It is something we can hold over their heads before they have a criminal record,’’ said Nicosia, who began his term Jan. 1 after winning an election last fall following the retirement of long-term District Attorney Jack Rowley.

“The goal is to make sure someone who completes diversion doesn’t come back’’ into the criminal justice system, Nicosia said. While the diversion process would be difficult to complete, it could save lives if it gets them off drugs that led to criminal activity, he said.

Nicosia said diversion could be possible for such cases as thefts and drug possession, traffic violations and DWI cases because the steps an individual has to go through to complete it are harder than simply pleading guilty. He estimated 80 percent of property crime happens because of drug abuse and offenders stealing to support a habit.

Diversion differs from the drug court program, in which a person first pleads guilty to a crime and then receives help if drugs were the cause of their criminal behavior.

The District Attorney’s office has been conferring with Sheriff James Pohlmann about use of the diversion program. Nicosia said an offender won’t be accepted into the program if there is an objection by the Sheriff’s Office.