The special prosecutor was fired Wednesday. felony criminal charge against Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who was charged with threatening the jobs of New Orleans officials who were fighting Republican-led court reform in the heavily Democratic city.
The case was suspended almost immediately following the July 2 indictment, when the Louisiana Supreme Court said the local court and special prosecutor did not follow procedures related to the indictment. The firing of special prosecutor Lori White came a day after New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams, Democratic Mayor Helena Moreno and five City Council members sent her a letter calling on her to drop the case.
“What I did was not a crime, it was never a crime,” said Murrill, a Republican. “I think this was a malicious prosecution.”
At the center of the case are deepening divisions between the state’s Republican leaders and the Democrats who control Louisiana’s most prominent city.
Orleans Parish online court records show White gave the judge letters from elected city officials and the prosecutor before dismissing each charge. The case against Murrill was then ordered to be “dismissed”.
In a prepared statement, White said she fulfilled her legal duties as a special prosecutor and noted that the grand jury returned an indictment.
White also criticized what she called interference in the case, but did not go into detail.
“The emergency intervention in this situation was truly unfortunate and we should all hope it does not set a precedent,” White said.
Reached by phone later that day, White declined to comment further.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry promised a swift pardon, saying Murrill would not allow her reputation to be tarnished by the “Orleans kangaroo court.”
Appearing with Murrill at a press conference about the state’s preparations for Tropical Storm BerthaLandry said he would welcome a state and federal investigation into how and why Murrill was charged.
“I think the feds need to get involved,” Landry said.
Moreno was among those who in May accused the state’s top law enforcement official of making threats against government officials.
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The original 16-count indictment handed down by a New Orleans grand jury accused Murrill, the state’s first female attorney general, of intimidation and malfeasance.
For months, political tensions between Louisiana Republicans and New Orleans officials increased over a new law eliminating the clerk of court position won by an exonerated individual. Calvin Duncanwho spent almost three decades in prison. The change combined the position with another clerk’s office, which Republican advocates say will make the local court system more efficient.
New Orleans leaders opposed the changes. In May, the City Council called a special election that would have given Duncan a chance to win the new dual position. In response, Murrill warned local officials in letters that they could lose their positions for violating “usurpatory” state laws that prohibit supporting an unauthorized official.
The mayor was among those who accused the state’s top law enforcement officer in May of making threats against government officials.
Murrill said she simply told city officials what the law was and that they had broken it. “I didn’t write this law. The Legislature wrote this law. I just explained it to them.”
Murrill called the indictment a threat of extortion and public intimidation “to put me in jail for telling them I was going to carry out my official duties.”
In their letter Tuesday, the mayor and city council members said they were not intimidated by Murrill’s previous letters.
“Although the correspondence in question contained threatening language against government officials, we never believed that these threats could be legally or practically carried out. We continue to serve the people of New Orleans without hesitation,” the mayor and council members wrote.
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Associated Press reporter Jack Brook contributed to this story.