Overview
- A New Orleans grand jury returned a 16-count indictment against Attorney General Liz Murrill — eight counts of intimidation and eight counts of malfeasance in office — that was recorded after letters she sent about the city’s consolidated clerk-of-court dispute.
- The Louisiana Supreme Court granted an emergency stay that has frozen proceedings and explicitly found considerable support that Murrill is likely to prevail on a motion to quash the charges for legal defects or apparent procedural irregularities in the grand-jury process.
- All 12 New Orleans criminal court judges stepped aside, creating a bench conflict that led the high court to appoint retired appeals judge Robert Chaisson to preside if the stay is lifted and pretrial work resumes.
- District Judge Angel Harris recused herself because her court handles multiple matters involving the attorney general and parties tied to the case, and District Judge Leon Roche also recused after accusing Murrill’s lawyer of public attacks; Murrill has not entered a plea while the stay remains in effect.
- The prosecution stems from a wider political fight over Act 15, which merged New Orleans’ civil and criminal clerk offices, and the case has raised broader questions about grand-jury secrecy, the role and impartiality of a special prosecutor, and the legal reach of state actions into local elections and court administration.