Louisiana Voice

Well, it certainly didn’t take long for that Orleans Parish grand jury to prove me wrong when I said yesterday that I didn’t think the investigation of Liz Murrill would be anything more than lots of political smoke but no fire.

The grand jury, which launched its own investigation of Murrill’s heavy-handed May 13 LETTER to Mayor Helena Moreno, District Attorney Jason Williams, retired Judge Calvin Johnson and members of the New Orleans City Council threatening them with imprisonment, has produced a rapid response in the form of a 16-count indictment of Murrill.

Attorney General Liz Murrill

Included in the 16 counts are charges of malfeasance and intimidation.

An arrest warrant was issued for Murrill within minutes of the indictment and her bond was set at $16,000 per count, or $400,000 total.

The whole sordid mess stems from the running dispute over the abolishment of the position of criminal clerk of court for Orleans Parish despite the election of Calvin Duncan to the office.

Murrill, her former boss, Gov. Jeff Landry, and the largely Repugnantcan legislature approved a bill by a West Monroe legislator, Sen. JAY MORRIS, who espouses economy and streamlining government while appearing to use that same government to enrich himself.

The SENATE VOTE on final passage was 26-11 and the HOUSE VOTE was 63-28 in favor.

Murrill said on Wednesday she was UNAWARE of the grand jury investigation.

She’s probably pretty aware of it by now.

It’s uncertain if the indictment will result in a conviction of a sitting Louisiana attorney general, but it’s not unprecedented. Attorney General P.F. “JACK” GREMILLION was convicted in 1971 of perjury and sentenced to three years in federal prison.

Perhaps Landry should begin warming up his pardon-writing hand—just in case.

And almost before I could type that last paragraph, Landry tweeted on X that he planned to do just that: pardon her.