Louisiana court halts criminal indictment against state attorney general | Louisiana

Louisiana’s highest court ordered a stay of trial in a criminal complaint targeting the state’s attorney general, in the latest version of a high-stakes political fight between Republican state leaders and Democrats who run its most famous city, New Orleans.

Republican Liz Murrill, Louisiana’s first female attorney general, was slapped with a 16-count indictment by a New Orleans grand jury on Thursday charging her with intimidation and abuse. The charges accused him of trying to intimidate New Orleans officials who opposed legislation passed by Republican lawmakers to overhaul the city’s courts.

Murrill moved quickly to stay on Thursday. And Louisiana’s supreme court affirmed the verdict early Friday, finding that he “made a compelling case for troubling flaws in the grand jury proceedings and the trial court’s handling of those proceedings.”

The attorney general also called the charges against him “retaliatory, unfair and unconstitutional,” writing that X would continue “to do the job for which the people of Louisiana elected me.”

Separately, the state’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, promised a swift pardon, saying Murrill’s reputation would not be tarnished by a “kangaroo court.”

The superior court order that resulted in Friday’s arrest says the case is intended to allow Murrill to “asserte any necessary defense defenses, including motions to quash.”

The decision also stated, “This postponement does not prevent the response to any defense presented by the chief prosecutor.”

The hearing took place a day after the grand jury’s indictment, shrouded in secrecy, was announced. Members of the news media who were waiting in New Orleans Judge Leon Roche’s courtroom to await the possible extraordinary return of the indictment against Murrill were ushered out after he ordered the chamber sealed.

The public has a legal right to access court proceedings. And Louisiana law requires grand jury returns to be held in open court. So the news outlet WWL Louisianathe Guardian’s news partner, protested the closure to try to maintain access to the hearings.

The station’s investigative producer, Danny Monteverde, and the station’s attorney, Elana Beiser, were then handcuffed and escorted from the courtroom as well as the outside hallway.

Roche did not explain at the time why he sealed the courtroom, according to local newspaper the Times-Picayune. reported. A court spokesman later said in a statement that grand jurors must be physically present when indictments are returned, ensuring their identities are protected confidentially so they can deliberate “freely, objectively, and without fear of public exposure.”

The Guardian has reached out to WWL Louisiana for comment.

Months of political tensions have intensified between Republicans in Louisiana and Democratic New Orleans officials over a new law that eliminates the court clerk’s office won by Calvin Duncan, who spent nearly three decades in prison in connection with a murder he was cleared of committing.

At one point, Murrill told eight New Orleans officials, including Mayor Helena Moreno and district attorney Jason Williams, that they could face termination from their jobs for opposing legislation that eliminated Duncan’s position.

Duncan said he believes state officials are retaliating against him by eliminating the job he won with 68% of the vote in November. Murrill and Landry had long refused to acknowledge Duncan’s exoneration, even though he was listed on the National Registry of Exonerations.

Murrill’s successful request for a stay of indictment raised concerns that, among other things, the special prosecutor who brought the charges (former judge Laurie White) had previously served as Duncan’s attorney.

The state supreme court on Friday said the stay also “will not preclude the filing of, or responses to, petitions for recusal of the special prosecutor or the trial judge.”