Ahead of the 250th birthday of the United States, a Louisiana judge tried to clear a courtroom when a grand jury returned an indictment of a political official. Now, the state supreme court has stepped in to save her.
A grand jury returned an indictment on Thursday of Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill, but less than 24 hours later, the conservative majority of the Louisiana Supreme Court stepped in to put the whole thing on hold. All four of the Republican justices voted in favor of Murrill and one Democratic one joined. The other Democrat and one Independent justice dissented.
Local WWL News reported that the court issued Murrill’s requested stay of the indictment, claiming that she “makes a compelling argument concerning the disturbing defects in the grand jury proceedings and in the trial court’s handling of those proceedings.”
According to new allegations, Murrill used the chaos in the courtroom to claim that the special prosecutor failed to follow proper procedure in the indictment when people were removed from the courthouse.
On Thursday, journalists, a producer, and a First Amendment lawyer were not only locked out but also handcuffed by court police when they tried to report on the case.
James Finn, reporter for The Times-Picayune, wrote on X that “WWLTV producer Danny Montverde was placed in handcuffs by Orleans Sheriff’s Office court security officers after objecting to the closed-door nature of the proceeding.”
He added, “I was told I’d face contempt of court charges and threatened with cuffs if I didn’t leave the courthouse hallway. When I left the building and came back, security wouldn’t let me back in. When I questioned on what grounds, I was again threatened with handcuffs.”
Finn issued a follow-up report on the paper, stating that no one at the New Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office has commented on what happened.
The office “has made no comment about its deputies’ conduct yesterday, incl cuffing/detaining journalist @DCMonteverde and 1A lawyer Elana Beiser for refusing to leave a taxpayer-funded courthouse. OPSO has not responded to inquiries from,” Finn wrote on X.
WWL TV reporter David Hammer commented on Thursday evening, “Code of Criminal Procedure Section 383 says grand jury ‘indictments shall be returned into the district court in open court.” That did not happen in Judge Leon Roché’s court today and Danny was objecting on behalf of the public. @WWLTV ’s lawyer, Elana Beiser, was also detained.'”
Beiser later quipped, “Nothing like a brief detention while standing up for freedom of information to celebrate Independence Day weekend.”
“The episode ended with combative, dueling press conferences on the courthouse steps. The special prosecutor assigned to the probe lamented that she had taken the case; defense lawyers for Attorney General Liz Murrill decried a system of ‘kangaroo courts’ in New Orleans,” Finn wrote in his report.
Murrill claimed in her court filing that there were also conflicts of interest involving Special Prosecutor Laurie White. She is currently being represented by the AG’s office in a sexual harassment lawsuit. She also served as an attorney for Calvin Duncan, a central person in the case. For those reasons, Murrill claimed that it wasn’t fair.
The conservative majority of the Louisiana Supreme Court agreed that the case must be examined and that there are likely conflicts of interest. Everything must remain on hold until further investigation. They also agreed that Murrill is “likely to succeed in having the case dismissed and that she would suffer irreparable harm if it can move forward,” said the Associated Press.
“This indictment appears to turn the law on its head and flows from what appear to be extraordinary procedural defects and improprieties,” the court said in the Friday filing signed by Republican Justice Jay McCallum.
“I hope this political witch hunt is not a harbinger of things to come,” she said in a statement Friday, “but I fear that it is.”
Echoing President Donald Trump, Murrill claimed the matter was a “witch hunt.”