In this undated family photo provided by Tammy Glover, Danelle Keim poses with her son Tyler
The sister of a woman whose sister touched off an investigation of a Louisiana prosecutor talked of conflicting feelings after 73-year-old Harry Morel was sentenced yesterday in federal court to three years in prison.
Tessie Keim said justice was not served because Morel “didn’t get charged with what he should have been.”
At a news conference when his plea agreement was announced in April, prosecutors and investigators called Morel a sexual predator. But he was never charged with a sex crime.
But Tessie Keim said her family also is excited that he got any prison time and is happy that the judge gave him the maximum.
She is the sister of Danelle Keim, who began wearing a wire for the FBI. Danelle Keim died of a drug overdose in 2013, less than 24 hours after The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that the FBI was investigating whether Morel had been trading leniency for sex with defendants or their relatives.
Harry Morel was district attorney for 33 years in St. Charles Parish, about 20 miles west of New Orleans.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite said that was because time limits had passed on some crimes, and prosecutors faced both significant problems with evidence and victims whose personal histories could make them difficult witnesses.
Defense attorney Ralph Capitelli has accused prosecutors of a smear campaign to influence sentencing.
The FBI began investigating Morel in April 2010, after a woman facing a drunken driving charge accused Morel of sexually assaulting her at her home.
Danelle Keim then began wearing a wire for the FBI. Authorities say one video shows Morel coming to Keim’s house with two bottles of wine, discussing her case, and then starting to grope her.
But Keim died of a drug overdose in 2013, less than 24 hours after The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that the FBI was investigating whether Morel had been trading leniency for sex with defendants or their relatives.
Morel’s guilty plea acknowledged his telling Keim to destroy photographic evidence of their meetings. AP
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