Daijiworld Media Network – New Orleans
New Orleans, Jul 3: Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has been indicted on 16 criminal counts, including intimidation and malfeasance, over allegations that she threatened public officials in New Orleans during a dispute over a Republican-backed overhaul of the city's court system.
The indictment, handed down by a New Orleans grand jury on Thursday, marks a major escalation in the political standoff between Louisiana's Republican-led state government and Democratic leaders in New Orleans.
The charges stem from letters Murrill sent in May warning local officials that they could lose their positions under the state's "usurper" laws if they proceeded with a special election related to changes in the city's court clerk offices.
Special prosecutor Laurie White alleged that the letters amounted to intimidation of elected officials.
"We're very interested in elected officials in New Orleans not being intimidated or threatened by letter or any other way," White told reporters.
Murrill dismissed the indictment as "retaliatory, meritless, and unconstitutional" and said she had filed an emergency petition before the Louisiana Supreme Court seeking a stay of the proceedings.
"I will not back down. I will continue enforcing the law, fighting corruption, and doing the job the people of Louisiana elected me to do," she said in a post on X.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry strongly defended Murrill and pledged to grant her a pardon if necessary, describing the proceedings as the work of an "Orleans Kangaroo court." He also directed the state police to investigate what he called alleged irregularities in the grand jury process.
The controversy centres on a new state law abolishing the separate criminal court clerk's office won by Calvin Duncan, an exoneree who spent nearly three decades in prison before his conviction was overturned. The law merged the office with another clerk's office, a move Republicans argued would improve efficiency.
New Orleans city leaders opposed the legislation and sought to hold a special election that would have allowed Duncan to contest the newly combined position.
Mayor Helena Moreno, who had earlier accused Murrill of threatening public officials, declined to comment directly on the indictment, saying the matter would be decided by the courts.
Duncan has maintained that the restructuring of the office was politically motivated and intended to target him, an allegation denied by Republican leaders, who insist the consolidation was an administrative reform similar to arrangements in other Louisiana parishes.
Court records show that Murrill's bond has been set at $400,000. The case is expected to intensify the ongoing political and legal battle between state and city authorities in Louisiana.