Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Wednesday that a special prosecutor has dismissed all felony criminal charges against her, weeks after a grand jury indicted her on accusations of threatening the jobs of New Orleans officials who opposed a Republican-led restructuring of courts in the heavily Democratic city.
The case was effectively put on pause shortly after the July 2 indictment, when the Louisiana Supreme Court determined that the local court and special prosecutor had failed to follow proper procedures in bringing the charges. Murrill, a Republican, made her announcement one day after New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams, Mayor Helena Moreno, and five City Council members sent a letter calling on the special prosecutor to abandon the case.
“This case should have NEVER been started because there was NO crime,” Murrill wrote in a statement shared on social media. “This outcome will not deter my efforts to get to the bottom of this. The irresponsible and illegal actions that led to this abuse of the criminal justice system need to never happen again.”
The dispute reflects growing tensions between Louisiana’s heavily Republican state leadership and the Democratic officials who govern the state’s largest city.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry had pledged to quickly pardon Murrill, saying she should not have her reputation damaged by what he called an “Orleans Kangaroo court.”
Mayor Moreno, a Democrat, was among those who accused the state’s top law enforcement official in May of making threats against public officials.
The original 16-count indictment, handed down by a New Orleans grand jury, accused Murrill — the state’s first female attorney general — of intimidation and malfeasance in office.
The conflict had been building for months over a new state law that eliminated a court clerk position that had been won by Calvin Duncan, an exoneree who spent nearly 30 years behind bars. The law merged that position with another clerk’s office, with Republican backers arguing the consolidation would improve efficiency in the local court system.
New Orleans city leaders pushed back against the change. In May, the City Council scheduled a special election that would have allowed Duncan a shot at winning the newly merged position. Murrill responded by sending warning letters to local officials, stating they could lose their posts for violating state “usurper” laws, which prohibit support for someone holding an unauthorized public office.
