Attorney General Liz Murrill is seeking to remove Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Leon Roche from dozens of cases her office is prosecuting before him, after Roche oversaw grand jury proceedings that led to a bombshell criminal indictment against her, a spokesman for her office said.
The spokesman, Lester Duhe, said Tuesday that prosecutors from Murrill’s office had already sought dz’s recusal in cases involving 54 defendants, including the 10 men charged last year in a massive New Orleans jailbreak.
Murrill’s office handles hundreds of felony cases in the Orleans Parish criminal courthouse under a two-year-old agreement with District Attorney Jason Williams’ office for the attorney general to try all cases from arrests by Louisiana State Police.
In at least two recusal motions, attorneys from Murrill’s office cited dz’s role in the recent grand jury probe and statements he’s made since the panel leveled 16 charges of public intimidation and malfeasance in office against Murrill, the state’s top prosecutor.
Roche appointed former New Orleans criminal judge Laurie White as special prosecutor over the grand jury after District Attorney Jason Williams recused his office from the probe into Murrill because he’s a purported victim of alleged threats against New Orleans officials that spawned the charges against her.
According to sources, the grand jury launched an investigation of Murrill on its own based on letters she sent New Orleans leaders in May, suggesting they’d lose their jobs if they continued to flout the Legislature by backing a special election for the city’s newly unified clerk of court position.
In the July 2 indictment, the grand jurors found probable cause for crimes in Murrill’s letters to Mayor Helena Moreno, District Attorney Jason Williams and the five City Council members that voted for the special election, along with their interim choice for clerk, former judge Calvin Johnson.
The attorney general’s recusal motion comes as eight of 10 defendants from the May 2025 jailbreak await a Sept. 15 trial date before Roche.
Given dz’s dealings with Murrill’s indictment, he “can’t be a neutral observer” in the jailbreak case, wrote Assistant Attorney General Daniel Smart in his motion Tuesday.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks during the Fiscal Review Committee meeting at the State Capitol on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
Javier Gallegos
“No one could objectively believe that his bias would not be imputed to anyone associated with her office or any matter before her involving her office,” he wrote.
Smart alleged Roche put a “bias against the Attorney General on open display” in a per curiam letter he sent the Louisiana Supreme Court, which had just issued a stay that halted the criminal proceedings against Murrill.
In the , Roche argued that, despite booting a throng of reporters from his courtroom to protect grand jury secrecy, he’d complied with a law requiring indictments to be returned in “open court.” Roche argued that the term meant only that the judge must be sitting on the bench.
All 12 New Orleans criminal judges recused themselves from Murrill’s case last week, and the Louisiana Supreme Court retired state appeals court judge Robert Chaisson to preside over the case.
dz’s noted that Gov. Jeff Landry has urged Louisiana State Police to investigate leaks by the grand jurors without any credible reports that its members had spoken to the press.
“This was one of the precise reasons the court had to protect the grand jurors’ anonymity from the media for fear of unlawful retaliation and harassment against them, from their own governor and attorney general,” Roche wrote.
The Supreme Court’s stay has placed Murrill’s arraignment on hold. In the meantime, Murrill’s attorneys have issued to Williams and White seeking records related to how the state grand jury came to indict Murrill and how it got out.
Murrill is also seeking dz’s recusal from the case of Sterling Williams, a former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office janitor charged with helping facilitate last year’s escape. Investigators said he cut off the water supply in the jail cell, allowing inmates to remove a toilet and flee through the hole it left.
Court records show Roche on Tuesday asked another judge to hear the AG’s recusal motion. Williams’ trial was set to begin next week.
Steve Scheckman, a longtime former special counsel for the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, said dz’s decision to leave his recusal to another judge is in line with state law.
“If a motion is clearly frivolous, he can deny it. But if it is not, it must be allotted randomly to another judge to decide,” Scheckman said. “Obviously, all of this needs to be litigated before a fair and impartial judge to decide it.”