New Orleans DA faces conservative backlash for voiding old sentences
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New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams (left) speaks alongside Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill during a press conference in November 2023. Photo: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams is facing criticism from conservative state lawmakers for re-examining convictions in hundreds of cases since taking office in 2021.
Why it matters: The sparring escalated last week when Williams testified in front of a state Senate judiciary committee meeting for the first — and likely not the last — time over the issue as a new law increases state oversight of Williams' office.
Between the lines: The moment might seem like a bit of whiplash for anyone watching Williams' tenure in the district attorney's office.
- After running on a progressive platform, Williams walked back some of his campaign pledges, such as a plan not to charge juveniles as adults and enhancing sentences for repeat offenders, once he got into office.
- Those moves, along with his public attempts to find common ground with Gov. Jeff Landry's conservative administration, have sparked frustration from some supporters.
- But now, the frustration is coming from the other side of the aisle.
Catch up quick: When Williams took office, his team started reviewing the 326 cases where people were still in prison because of non-unanimous jury verdicts, according to The Lens' reporting at the time.
- Louisiana voters ended those verdicts in 2018 before the Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional in 2020, but neither move was retroactive.
- Using a process known as post-conviction relief, which allows the DA to void convictions or reduce sentences after other appeals options are exhausted, Williams' team has intervened in at least 350 cases, according to his office.
The intrigue: Under pressure from former Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's daughter, Laura Cannizzaro, who runs the Republican-aligned advocacy group known as Bayou Mama Bears, conservative lawmakers aren't happy about it.
- A new law that went into effect last month requires Williams to inform Attorney General Liz Murrill's office when his team reviews cases for post-conviction relief, and it allows her to intervene, the AP reports.
- "Post-conviction relief is not a mechanism for revising a sentence that is long final simply because the District Attorney has a difference of opinion with the legislature and reviewing courts on criminal justice policy," Murrill said in an Aug. 19 statement.
State of play: Lawmakers called on Williams to testify in front of a "fiery" Senate committee meeting last week, the AP reported.
- In that meeting, Murrill said she'd review 40 cases where relief was granted between January and July. For comparison, the AP reported, Murrill said neighboring parish DAs only allowed relief in one case each.
- The hearing is likely not the last, and Williams tells Axios New Orleans he's already provided case documents to Murrill's office.
- "We took all the files so she could see them for herself," Williams says. "I want her to review them so she can provide a legal answer. Everything we've done is in line with the law ... the same way my predecessor did … but we don't know how many times Cannizarro did it because he didn't keep records the same way."
The big picture: Williams is among dozens of progressive prosecutors using their powers to review old cases as a means of fighting what they view as civil rights injustices that have piled up over decades in the criminal justice system.
- "We have stayed committed to the work of our civil rights division, reckoning with and correcting the sins of the past," Williams wrote in an op-ed for MSNBC last year explaining his choice to stand by his policies after he and his mother were carjacked. "Addressing wrongful convictions has allowed us to rebuild long-squandered community trust in the legal system."