NEW ORLEANS (AP) 鈥 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 facing an investigation by Republican politicians who are concerned he is abusing his power.
Williams, a Black Democrat in an overwhelmingly conservative state, replaced a hard-nosed, tough-on-crime incumbent when he was elected in 2020. Since then, he's focused on responding to what he describes as the 鈥渟ins of the past鈥 in New Orleans, and in a state which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. Conservative lawmakers and officials are concerned he is arbitrarily putting people convicted of violent crimes back on the streets given the state's high homicide rates in recent years.
Over the past three years, Williams' office reports having voided convictions or reduced sentences in several hundred cases via a process known as post-conviction relief that allows the court to consider new evidence after all other appeals have been exhausted. The landmark civil rights division of Williams鈥 office has reviewed old cases, leading to exonerations and plea-deal releases based on constitutional violations or legal practices his office considers unjust. Critics point out post-conviction relief was employed sparingly in the past by the district attorney's office.
Williams has agreed to appear before a state senate committee on Sept. 5 over his office鈥檚 use of post-conviction relief.
A new law passed by a Republican-dominated Legislature earlier this year went into effect in August, effectively stripping Williams of his ability to engage in post-conviction relief without the approval of the Republican Attorney General. But state legislators had previously enacted a law in 2021 allowing district attorneys to amend sentences, even in cases without clear legal error, through post-conviction plea agreements with approval from judges.
Since 2021, Williams鈥 office reports as of late May having voided more than 140 convictions and reduced sentences in at least 180 cases, often re-sentencing them to lesser charges.
Conservative lawmakers have expressed concern that Williams' office has been acting without transparency. Attorney General Liz Murrill said she is taking a 鈥渃lose look鈥 at these cases and warned that convictions should not be changed 鈥渟imply because the district attorney has a difference of opinion鈥 from the courts and Legislature.
Williams is part of a wave of more than 50 progressive prosecutors who in the past decade have sought to reduce incarceration rates and review past cases where constitutional violations or excessive sentencing may have occurred. These prosecutors have more often faced blowback 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 in response to a social media campaign driven by Laura Rodrigue, a former prosecutor and daughter of the previous district attorney. Her advocacy group Bayou Mama Bears has warned Williams is endangering public safety and highlighted instances where his office resentenced or released people convicted of violent crimes.
Williams has said there has been no misconduct in his office's use of post-conviction relief and that he is simply following through on his campaign promises.
鈥淭his is not just waking up and saying, 'Hey, let鈥檚 try something new,鈥 Williams said. 鈥淭his is listening to the community and answering and trying to deliver."
Williams has focused in particular on reviewing . A 2020 Supreme Court ruling had declared these convictions unconstitutional. While the ruling did not automatically apply retroactively, Williams has not blocked people convicted prior to 2020 by non-unanimous juries from applying for post-conviction relief on these grounds.
The state has been in the process of reckoning with law enforcement practices rooted in white supremacist history such as non-unanimous jury convictions, said Colin Reingold, legal director of New Orleans-based advocacy group Promise of Justice.
Louisiana has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, locking up 1,067 per 100,000 of the state鈥檚 residents, according to a from the Prison Policy Initiative.
鈥淚f incarceration actually provided public safety we鈥檇 be the safest place in the country, but we鈥檙e not,鈥 said Will Snowden, a law professor at Loyola University and former New Orleans public defender.
Following the election of a Republican-dominated state government last year, Louisiana's Legislature convened a in February and passed new laws, including expanding methods to carry out the death penalty and eliminating parole for most people in the future.
Republican Governor Jeff Landry has these laws are necessary to 鈥渄eliver true justice to crime victims鈥 and 鈥渆nact real change that makes Louisiana a safer state for all.鈥
Williams has maintained that rebuilding trust in the criminal justice system helps 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鈥檚 office have said they are working productively together in other areas such as addressing juvenile crime.
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This story has been updated to correct that Williams is a Democrat in a conservative state, not a district.
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Associated Press journalist Sara Cline in Baton Rouge contributed to this story.
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.
