{"id":182,"date":"2026-07-05T14:12:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=182"},"modified":"2026-07-05T14:12:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:12:59","slug":"louisianas-top-court-halts-the-criminal-case-against-the-state-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=182","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana&#8217;s top court halts the criminal case against the state attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday halted the criminal case against state Attorney General Liz Murrill a day after she was <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/louisiana-attorney-general-indictment-new-orleans-ec8c31e8d56fa5df843580902369cb0f\">indicted on accusations<\/a> that she threatened the jobs of officials in New Orleans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The state&#8217;s top court said the local court and special prosecutor in the case did not follow proper procedures in the process surrounding the indictment \u2014 including multiple local media reports that the court handcuffed and locked out a journalist attempting to report on the grand jury action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Friday&#8217;s stay puts the case on hold, at least for now. Murrill, a Republican, said she intends to ask a court to dismiss the case, which shows a deep rift between Republican state officials and the Democrats who control the state&#8217;s most populous city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI hope this political witch hunt is not a harbinger of things to come,\u201d she said in a statement Friday, \u201cbut I fear that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The 16-count indictment handed up Thursday by a New Orleans grand jury accused Murrill, the state&#8217;s first female attorney general, with intimidation and malfeasance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Supreme Court says there were deep flaws with the charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cThis indictment appears to turn the law on its head and flows from what appear to be extraordinary procedural defects and improprieties,\u201d the court said in a filing signed by Justice Jay McCallum, a Republican.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The court says there are likely conflicts of interest involving Laurie White, the special prosecutor and former state judge who brought the charges, including that she&#8217;s being defended by the attorney general&#8217;s office against a sexual harassment lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">McCallum&#8217;s explanation also notes that the law used in the intimidation charge against Murrill requires that threats be \u201cunlawful or include a threat of bodily harm or death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The court also found the attorney general is likely to succeed in having the case dismissed and that she would suffer irreparable harm if it can move forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The order was issued by all four of the Republican justices and one Democrat. The court&#8217;s other Democrat and an independent dissented. Justice John Guidry, a Democrat, was critical of the quick decision by his colleagues. &#8220;Due process and equal protection under the law does not allow anyone to cut the line and have their matters considered more preferentially than others,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The case is fallout from a major political battle in Louisiana.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The state this year abolished the job of the New Orleans criminal court clerk \u2014 merging it with another court clerk position. That action came months after Calvin Duncan, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/new-orleans-clerk-calvin-duncan-dc0ca1c86bcc313b4e5af43ed623fa15\">who spent decades in prison<\/a> before his murder conviction was vacated, was elected to the criminal clerk office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Murrill and other GOP officials have refused to acknowledge Duncan&#8217;s innocence, though he&#8217;s listed on the National Registry of Exonerations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The court noted that Duncan was previously represented by White \u2014 which it called &#8220;a likely conflict of interest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A letter from Murrill to New Orleans&#8217; city council members and Mayor Helena Moreno came after the city council set a special election that would have given Duncan a shot at the combined clerk role. Murrill told officials they could lose their offices for violating state laws that forbid support for an unauthorized officeholder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Murrill has said she was doing her job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">After the indictment was issued Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, said he would pardon Murrill. The governor also said on social media that he was ordering state police to investigate \u201cthe alleged improprieties of this grand jury and those who ran it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">On Friday, the governor thanked the Supreme Court and called the indictment \u201ca political witch hunt\u201d against Murrill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday halted the criminal case against state Attorney General Liz Murrill a day after she was indicted on accusations that she threatened the jobs of officials in New Orleans. The state&#8217;s top court said the local court and special prosecutor in the case did not follow proper procedures in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/58f005d8-07c9-4150-aed9-954f6c604807\/wirestory_12b275d425a1231791856c8b5c951959_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}