The Singing District Attorney who navigated the line between jazz and justice
In short: Harry Connick Sr. was a man of dual identities: a frequent French Quarter club singer and a powerful prosecutor who served as New Orleans' district attorney for three decades. His career was defined by high-profile legal battles, cultural leadership in Mardi Gras, and complex controversies over prosecutorial conduct.
Born in 1926 and raised in New Orleans, Connick Sr. was deeply embedded in the city's musical fabric. Influenced by Glenn Miller, he spent many nights performing in clubs like Maxwell's Toulouse Cabaret. This cultural presence earned him the nickname "The Singing District Attorney" from Time magazine. Beyond the stage, he was a civic leader, co-founding the Krewe of Orpheus superkrewe in 1993 alongside his son, musician Harry Connick Jr.
His legal career began in earnest in 1973 when he defeated Jim Garrison for district attorney. His tenure was marked by significant constitutional litigation, most notably Connick v. Myers. In this free-speech case, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that a prosecutor's firing of an employee who distributed a morale questionnaire was lawful because the issues were internal to the office rather than of public concern.
However, his legacy is complicated by allegations of systemic misconduct within his office. The Innocence Project noted that 36 men convicted during his 30-year tenure alleged prosecutorial misconduct, leading to 19 overturned or reduced sentences. A notable example was Shareef Cousin, who was put on death row at age 16 after a key witness statement was withheld. In another case, John Thompson was awarded $14 million for wrongful conviction due to evidence withholding, though the Supreme Court later overturned this award in 2011.
Connick's career also involved high-stakes historical mysteries. He was embroiled in a battle over the assassination records of JFK; while he initially instructed an investigator to destroy them, the documents were eventually secured by the U.S. Department of Justice and placed in the JFK Collection. Connick Sr. passed away in 2024 at the age of 97.
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