AG Liz Murrill indicted on malfeasance in office, intimidation charges

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill was indicted Thursday (July 2) by an Orleans Parish grand jury, accused of threatening the jobs of New Orleans city officials in letters she sent to them in May.

Murrill’s 16-count indictment includes 8 counts of malfeasance in office and 8 counts of intimidation and retaliation, according to a copy of the indictment obtained by WWNO. A warrant has been issued for her arrest, and her bond has been set at $400,000 — $25,000 for each count.

Each count is tied to the individual letters Murrill sent to City Council President J.P Morrell; City Councilmembers Aimee McCarron, Freddie King III, Jason Hughes and Matthew Willard; Mayor Helena Moreno; City Attorney Jason Williams; and retired judge Calvin Johnson.

The five council members voted in favor of a November special election in November for a combined clerk of court for Orleans Parish. They — along with Moreno and Williams — argued that recently passed legislation that abolished the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court position had also created a new combined clerk position that needed to be filled. The city appointed Johnson to the position on an interim basis.

In the letters, Murrill said the legislation instead named Orleans Parish Clerk of Civil Court Chelsea Richard Napoleon as the combined clerk of court, and she’d take legal action to remove the officials from office if they held the election for clerk of court, or appointed Johnson.

Moreno and the five city council members who received the letters swiftly rebuked the attorney general’s guidance in videos posted on social media.

“It is surprising that the attorney general put all of this in a letter, considering that there is a criminal law that prohibits intimidation,” Moreno said in an Instagram video at the time.

Gov. Jeff Landry responded almost immediately to Murrill’s indictment, calling it “a circus” by a “kangaroo” court in a post on social media. He also said he plans to pardon Murrill “as fast as the law allows.”

In response, Laurie White, a retired Orleans Parish criminal court judge appointed as a special prosecutor, told reporters outside the Orleans Criminal District Court building, “Good, let’s get her convicted, and then he can pardon her.”

White said she expects the case to be “very simple” and “very open and shut.”

Reporters at the scene were threatened with arrest if they entered the courtroom — despite state law that says a jury’s verdict must happen in open court. Times-Picayune reporter James Finn said at least one reporter — WWL TV’s Danny Montverde — was led away from the courthouse in handcuffs.

Murrill released a statement hours after the indictment was initially made public, calling it “retaliatory, meritless, and unconstitutional.” She also said the information about her indictment was “illegally leaked” and chastised White and the court for handcuffing and locking out members of the media from its release.

Murrill said she plans to file an emergency supervisory writ with the state Supreme Court.

“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 social media Thursday evening, Landry said he has ordered the Louisiana State Police to investigate “the alleged improprieties of this grand jury and those who ran it!”