NEW ORLEANS (AP) – New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams promised to address the city’s history of prosecutorial and police misconduct when he was elected four years ago, but now he’s under investigation by Republican politicians who worry he’s abusing his power.
Williams, a black Democrat in an overwhelmingly conservative district, replaced a tough-guy, anti-crime incumbent when he was elected in 2020. Since then, he has focused on addressing what he describes as “the sins of the past” in 2020. In New Orleans and a state with one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates . Conservative lawmakers and officials worry that he is arbitrarily putting people convicted of violent crimes back on the streets because of the state’s high homicide rate in recent years.
Over the past three years, Williams’ office has announced that it has overturned or commuted convictions in several hundred cases through a process known as post-conviction relief, which allows the court to consider new evidence after all other appeals have been exhausted. Williams’ office’s prominent civil rights division has reviewed old cases, leading to acquittals and acquittals based on constitutional violations or unfair practices by his office. Critics point out that post-conviction relief was used sparingly in the district attorney’s office in the past.
Williams has agreed to appear before a state Senate committee on Sept. 5 as his office uses post-conviction relief.
The new law, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature earlier this year, went into effect in August, effectively stripping Williams of the ability to pursue post-conviction relief without approval from the Republican attorney general. But state lawmakers had previously enacted a law in 2021 that would have allowed district attorneys to change convictions, even in cases where there was no clear legal error, through post-conviction plea deals approved by judges.
Since 2021, Williams’ office announced in late May that it has overturned more than 140 convictions and commuted sentences in at least 180 cases, often re-sentenced to lesser charges.
Conservative lawmakers have expressed concern that Williams’ office has operated without transparency. Attorney General Liz Murrill said she will review these cases “closely” and warned that sentences should not be changed “simply because the district attorney has a difference of opinion” with the courts and the legislature.
Williams is part of a wave of more than 50 progressive prosecutors who, over the past decade, have sought to reduce incarceration rates and review past cases where constitutional violations or excessive sentences may have occurred. Those prosecutors have more often faced pushback from ideological opponents at the state level than from the voters who elected them, typically in liberal cities with large black populations, said Rebecca Goldstein, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
The concerns raised by Louisiana officials are largely a response to a social media campaign led by Laura Rodrigue, a former prosecutor and daughter of the previous district attorney. His advocacy group, the Bayou Mama Bears, has warned Williams against endangering public safety and has highlighted cases in which his office has acquitted or exonerated people convicted of violent crimes.
Williams has said there has been no wrongdoing in his office’s use of post-conviction assistance and that he is just following through on campaign promises.
“This is not just waking up and saying, ‘Hey, let’s try something new,'” Williams said. “This is about listening and responding and delivering to the community.”
Williams is particularly focused on reviewing unanimous jury verdicts. A 2020 Supreme Court judgment had declared these sentences unconstitutional. Although the sentence was not automatically applied retroactively, Williams has not barred individuals convicted before 2020 who are not unanimous juries from seeking post-conviction relief on these grounds.
The state has embraced law enforcement practices rooted in a history of white supremacy, such as unanimous jury verdicts, said Colin Reingold, legal director of the New Orleans-based advocacy group Promise of Justice.
According to a recent report by the Prison Policy Initiative, Louisiana has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, with 1,067 incarcerated per 100,000 state residents.
“If incarceration really provided public safety, we’d be the safest place in the country, but we’re not,” said Will Snowden, a Loyola University law professor and former New Orleans public defender.
After electing a Republican-controlled state government last year, the Louisiana legislature convened a special crime session in February and passed new laws, including expanding methods of carrying out the death penalty and eliminating parole for most people in the future.
Republican Governor Jeffy Landry has stated that these laws are necessary to “bring real justice to victims of crime” and “make real change that will make Louisiana a safer state for everyone.”
Williams has argued that rebuilding trust in the criminal justice system will help increase public safety and said his office engages with victims and their families as they consider post-conviction relief cases.
Despite the ongoing clash over post-conviction relief, Williams and the attorney general have said they are working productively together in other areas, such as tackling youth crime.
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Associated Press reporter Sara Cline in Baton Rouge contributed to this story.
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Brook is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on classified issues. Follow Brook on social platform X: @jack_brook96.