Eddie Jordan is a great big cry baby!

The top prosecutor in New Orleans stormed out of an interview when he couldn't rationally answer a question posed by ABC News journalist Brian Ross:

"There has been growing criticism by senior people in law enforcement who say even with the acknowledged problems caused by Katrina, the district attorney has not efficiently dealt with a huge backlog of cases."

Apparently, Jordan brought along an aide, Leatrice Dupre, to be his surrogate mother and bail him out of tough questions. She stepped in front of the camera to end the interview when Jordan started getting insolent.



ABC Nightline video and story.

How would Jordan's childish behavior play out in a courtroom?

Judge: Mr. Jordan, your witness.

Jordan: Don't tell me how to do my job. I'm doing my job and I have the evidence to support it. That's stupid! I'm taking care of my responsibility. This is ignorance and stupidity on the part of people who don't know how our system works. I'm leaving. This trial is over!

Jordan later explained to The Times-Picayune:

"I was outraged," he said. "This reporter, the crux of his argument was that the DA's office is not prosecuting cases, or only a couple since the storm, and he didn't seem to understand we need a courthouse or courtrooms to prosecute a case."

Sooo ... Eddie -- why wouldn't you use the opportunity on national television to explain your needs, and make an appeal before a national audience to have them addressed?

Oh ... right! I forgot. That might lead to questions about how you owe citizens $3.5 million.

By the way, since you say you can't do your job without more courtroom space, do you think that $3.5 million might help clean up the damaged court building, or might be used to rent out rooms at a hotel to hold court?

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Update:

Jordan was interviewed this morning on WWL by ... "aaah" .... Bob .... "aaah" ... Del Giorno and Monica Pierre. They asked "gimme" questions which only served to aggrandize Jordan, validating Jordan's behavior by reserving until the very end of the interview a quip about how Brian Ross "didn't do his homework." Jordan celebrated a 70 percent prosecution rate in juried trials despite problems caused by Hurricane Katrina, saying that his office has moved over 300 cases through the system since the storm. I would have asked how those figures compare to pre-Katrina cases: 1) What was the rate that cases moved through the court system pre-Katrina; 2) What was the prosecution rate pre-Katrina; and 3) What kinds of cases was he talking about, e.g., urinating in the streets and marijuana possession, or murder? Nyaah -- WWL is the all-Saints-all-the-time station again.

Finally, this may be the quote of the week. Judge Arthur Hunter:

"The entire criminal justice infrastructure in New Orleans is being held together with spit and tape, and it is just a matter of time before the system collapses."

Tags: Hurricane Katrina | Katrina | New Orleans | Louisiana | America's Wetland | Rebuild New Orleans | We Are Not OK | Katrina Dissidents | Failure Is Not An Option | Katrina One Year Anniversary | Eddie Jordan