Retired judge named in Louisiana AG Murrill indictment fight

An outside judge enters a stalled case

The Louisiana Supreme Court has appointed retired Judge Robert A. Chaisson to handle the criminal case against Attorney General Liz Murrill after every judge on the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court stepped aside.fox8live The appointment does not restart the prosecution immediately: the high court has already paused the case while it reviews defense challenges to the indictment.fox8live

All 12 local criminal court judges recused themselves this week, prompting the court’s chief judge to ask for an outside judge if the case moves forward.wafb The Orleans Parish district attorney’s office has also said its staff is recused from the grand jury inquiry, underscoring how deeply the case cuts across the city’s courthouse and state legal establishment.wafb

Sixteen counts grew out of a clerk fight

An Orleans Parish grand jury indicted Murrill on eight counts of public intimidation and eight counts of malfeasance in office, charges tied to warning letters she sent New Orleans officials during a fight over the city’s court clerk structure.shreveporttimes +1 The letters followed a state law that consolidated the city’s civil and criminal clerk offices, a move that blocked Calvin Duncan from taking the criminal clerk job he had won before the law took effect.bigeasymagazine +1

The dispute escalated after city officials backed steps to appoint an interim clerk and call a special election for the consolidated office.abajournal Murrill argued those actions violated state law and warned Mayor Helena Moreno, District Attorney Jason Williams and City Council members that they risked removal from office if they continued.bigeasymagazine +1

The high court has signaled skepticism

The Louisiana Supreme Court stayed the indictment less than a day after it was returned and later ordered the arrest warrant removed from databases.bigeasymagazine +1 The court said Murrill had shown “considerable support” for a motion to quash the indictment, citing possible legal defects and procedural irregularities in how the grand jury return was handled.bigeasymagazine +1

Those concerns include allegations that reporters were removed or handcuffed during what state law requires to be an open-court proceeding.bigeasymagazine +1 Murrill has called the case retaliatory, meritless and unconstitutional, while Gov. Jeff Landry promised to pardon her “as fast as the law allows.”lailluminator +1

Chaisson’s appointment gives the case a judge if the stay lifts, but it does not answer the threshold question now before the Supreme Court: whether the indictment survives at all.fox8live A Loyola University law professor told WVUE the prosecution may already be “dead” because of the high court’s unusually fast intervention and the alleged procedural flaws.abajournal