Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill indicted on 16 felony counts

An Orleans Parish grand jury indicted Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on 16 felony counts Thursday, July 2. The indictment included eight counts of public intimidation and eight counts of malfeasance in office, and an arrest warrant was issued with bond set at $400,000, or $25,000 per count.

The charges grew out of letters Murrill sent to Mayor Helena Moreno, District Attorney Jason Williams and five City Council members over the Orleans Parish Clerk of Court fight tied to Act 15, the law that merged the parish’s civil and criminal clerk offices. In those letters, Murrill warned the officials they could face consequences under Louisiana’s usurper statutes, including possible forfeiture of office, if they kept pressing for an interim clerk and a special election. Her office had already won at the Louisiana Supreme Court on the underlying clerk dispute.

Former Criminal District Court Judge Laurie White served as special prosecutor, and the grand jury investigation had begun about six weeks before the indictment. The case then spilled into a separate clash over courtroom access. Judge Leon Roche said he sealed the courtroom because of aggressive media behavior, and later told the court he never instructed deputies to handcuff or detain reporters. Reporter Danny Monteverde and station attorney Elana Beiser were handcuffed and briefly detained after they protested the closure. The Louisiana Supreme Court later granted Murrill’s stay request and cited “disturbing defects” in the trial-court proceedings.

Murrill’s attorney, Laura Rodrigue Cannizzaro, called the prosecution a conflict of interest and raised concerns about leaks. Five council members were subpoenaed to testify. Murrill has also brought a 30-count case against Sheriff Susan Hutson in 2025, and Justice John Guidry’s dissent in the earlier clerk fight argued that the legislature had usurped the will of New Orleans voters by displacing Calvin Duncan.