Case Against Louisiana AG Liz Murrill Is Dismissed, Weeks After Grand Jury Indictment

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Special prosecutor Laurie White dropped all 16 felony charges against Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on Wednesday. The move comes less than three weeks after an Orleans Parish grand jury handed up the indictment, and it came at the request of the same New Orleans officials who were named as victims in the case.

Mayor Helena Moreno, District Attorney Jason Williams and five City Council members all pushed for the case to end. So did Murrill.

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How the Case Against Murrill Started

The charges trace back to letters Murrill sent in May to Moreno, Williams and the council members. She sent them over their support for an election to fill a citywide court clerk position, plus the appointment of an interim clerk. That interim pick, former criminal court judge Calvin Johnson, got one of the letters too.

An Orleans Parish grand jury handed up the 16-count indictment on July 2. It charged Murrill with eight counts of malfeasance in office and eight counts of intimidation. Gov. Jeff Landry, a fellow Republican, ordered Louisiana State Police to investigate how the grand jury handled the case not long after the indictment came down. Officials have declined to say where that investigation stands.

The People Named as Victims Asked for the Case to End

By late Tuesday, all eight people named as victims in the case had signed letters urging White to reconsider prosecuting Murrill. The Louisiana Supreme Court had already stayed the case earlier in July, a move that suggested the justices did not think it would hold up.

Moreno and the five council members wrote that Murrill’s letter never intimidated them. Johnson said the letter he got did not make him feel like a victim, either.

The push to end the case landed just as an ad hoc judge, Robert Chaisson, was getting ready to rule on subpoenas from Murrill’s legal team. Those subpoenas sought records from White and Williams about how the grand jury investigation started in the first place. Murrill’s attorneys have pointed to Williams’ office as a possible source of that effort, something Williams denies. His office formally recused itself from the case.

What the Special Prosecutor Said

White said in her statement that the grand jury reached its own judgment in the case, and she respects that. She said the letters from the alleged victims were the basis for Wednesday’s dismissal. She also called the outside pressure surrounding the case unfortunate and said she hopes it does not become a precedent for future cases.

What Murrill Said

Murrill said in her own statement that the case never should have been brought, and that she plans to get to the bottom of how it started. She has called the charges retaliatory, meritless and unconstitutional since the day she was indicted.

What Happens Next

It is still not clear whether Wednesday’s dismissal ends the broader fight. The State Police inquiry Landry ordered into the grand jury’s conduct has not been resolved publicly, and Murrill has signaled she is not done pushing on that front.

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