Gov. Jeff Landry, R-La., and Attorney General Liz Murrill, R-La., called for a federal investigation into lawfare from officials in New Orleans who somehow secured a grand jury indictment against Murrill for sending them letters notifying them they had broken the law.
Murrill was indicted by a grand jury in Democrat-run Orleans Parish on 16 felony counts for malfeasance and intimidation earlier this month, facing 80 years in jail. The indictment came after Murrill informed New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno and other city officials that they could be removed from office if they continued to refuse to comply with a state law consolidating Orleans Parish’s civil and criminal court clerks into a single position.
Officials in New Orleans then “took it upon themselves to ignore my legal advice over and over again, and appoint someone to a fictional office that they made up the week of a statewide election for the Senate primary for the United States Senate,” Murrill said at a press conference, noting that the reckless act could have interfered with the vote and “undermined all of the ballots of the city of New Orleans.”
“A group of people in New Orleans, who still remain largely unidentified, were able to weaponize the grand jury system to indict a sitting attorney general for something that is not a crime,” Murrill said. She later added in a post on X, “I was indicted, threatened with arrest, and given a $400,000 bond. I invite everyone to compare that bond to those routinely set in Orleans Parish by this same judge for people charged with second-degree murder. I can tell you the answer: it’s about $268,000.”
The charges were dismissed this week, but Murrill and Landry have promised, “It’s not over,” seeking the disbarment of the lawyers involved in lawfare and a federal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the indictment, which U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., has also called for.
“How many of y’all actually believe that a grand jury of citizens in New Orleans spontaneously … just decided that a letter sent by the attorney general to the City Council was a criminal act?” Landry said at the press conference. He went on to argue that “a federal investigation is warranted, a state investigation is warranted. The judiciary commission should be investigating the judges that were involved. … J.P. [New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell] is a lawyer. I don’t know if the conduct that he engaged in shouldn’t disbar him. [Orleans Parish District Attorney] Jason Williams’ conduct? He should have his law license ripped from him.”
Murrill said she believes this was a “malicious prosecution” and that there are a multitude of crimes potentially committed by city officials, including, “interfering with a statewide election for federal office, conspiring to violate civil rights laws, conspiracy to rig a grand jury proceeding, conspiracy to interfere with a grand jury proceeding, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, injuring public records, malfeasance, and public intimidation.”
Malfeasance and intimidation were the two charges against Murrill, and she explained, “They came after me with an extortionate threat — a threat of actual harm to me personally — to put me in jail for telling them that I am going to carry out my official duties if I am asked to do that by the governor. That meets the definition of public intimidation.”
Landry blamed the media for turning a blind eye to the corruption in New Orleans, including the lack of accountability for crimes and the spiraling criminal justice system that declines to punish anyone for crimes. He said he is mulling a special session of the legislature to look at ways lawmakers can “take more control over the court system” in the city, since city officials are incapable of self-governance.
“This case was never just about me. What happened here set a dangerous precedent that could affect anyone. That is why this is not over. This is not about anger, retaliation, or ‘Baton Rouge versus New Orleans.’ It is about ensuring our criminal justice system is never weaponized against anyone else,” Murrill said on social media.
“What they have done is opened the door to something that could happen to anybody, and that’s why it’s not over,” Murrill explained at the press conference. “It’s not over, and it’s not because I’m angry; it’s not because any of us want to retaliate against anybody. It’s because what they did can now be weaponized and used against other people.”
