new orleans — A man was imprisoned for almost 30 years before he was exonerated He won a historic election In New Orleans he promises to fix the justice system that has failed him. Now, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the GOP-controlled Legislature are racing to eliminate his position before he can be sworn in.
Calvin Duncan won 68% of the vote last November to become Clerk of the Orleans Parish Criminal Court after running on a platform of justice reform based on his own experience fighting for access to court records while in a maximum-security prison.
Duncan rebuilt his life, in part by running for and winning the position of clerk. But Louisiana Senate Republicans voted on Wednesday to eliminate Duncan’s new job as part of a broader GOP effort to streamline the judicial system in New Orleans, a Democratic hotbed with a predominantly black electorate. The state legislature is Republican and largely white, and the state was deep red as well Leading efforts to repeal the Voting Rights Act.
Duncan is scheduled to be sworn in on May 4.
He told the Associated Press that he believes he is being retaliated against by Louisiana officials who have long denied his innocence, even though his name is on the National Registry of Exonerations.
Republicans say it’s nothing personal and defend the effort as a step toward government efficiency.
“The citizens of New Orleans overwhelmingly said, ‘I want to give this person a chance. He can make a difference,’” Duncan, a Democrat, told lawmakers during a committee hearing in March. “What this bill does is it says, ‘Thank you, but you wasted your time.’ It disenfranchises everyone.”
The case began with the 1981 murder of 23-year-old David Yeager, which led to Duncan being imprisoned for more than 28 years. In 2011, on the eve of a hearing to consider new evidence, prosecutors offered to reduce Duncan’s sentence to time served if he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery. Duncan was released, but he never stopped trying to clear his name.
Finally, in 2021, a judge agreed that he had been wrongfully convicted and completely overturned Duncan’s sentence.
As state attorney general in 2023, Landry opposed Duncan’s petition for compensation for his wrongful conviction. Duncan withdrew the petition after Landry’s successor, Liz Morrell, He threatened To pursue Duncan’s law license in the state. When Duncan ran for clerk, Morrell vowed to take “further action” against him if he did not stop describing himself as “exonerated.”
Landry and Morrell noted that Duncan accepted a 2011 plea deal on charges of manslaughter and armed robbery.
“The prosecutor made it clear during the election that if I continued to speak accurately about my innocence and exoneration, I would face consequences from her office,” Duncan told the Associated Press. “We see these consequences today as she and the governor attempt to undo the will of 68% of voters in New Orleans.”
Morell said she had “no role” in the move to abolish the office.
Landry told the AP that eliminating Duncan’s elected position was about improving “the efficiency of government” and “cleaning up the system in Orleans Parish that has been plagued by dysfunction and corruption for years.”
Proponents of merging the criminal clerk of court with the civil clerk of court say the offices are consolidated in other parishes. Ending the position of court clerk would save the state Estimated at $27,300According to the Legislative Auditor’s Office, which added that the costs of combining clerkships are “unknown.”
The bill’s Republican author, Sen. Jay Morris, who represents a district in north Louisiana, acknowledged that once Duncan’s elected position is eliminated, the civil clerk of court may have difficulties handling the influx of cases. The solution, he says, is to “hire someone.”
Other New Orleans elected judicial officials whose positions may be eliminated in the future will be allowed to serve their terms, but not Duncan.
Morris told lawmakers the goal is to pass the law in time to prevent Duncan from taking office before the start of his four-year term.
The bill, which is on track to pass the GOP-controlled House and be approved by Landry, will take effect immediately with the governor’s signature.
“I have never seen anything so barbaric,” Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, said on the Senate floor. “I understand politics and I know you’re all going to vote how you’re going to vote. But just know, when we’re all finished here, history will have a record.”
Duncan, 62, was the driving force behind the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended The jury’s convictions were not unanimous. He also founded a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding prisoners’ access to the court system. He said that his election to the position of writer was the culmination of his life’s work.
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Klein reported from Baton Rouge.
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Brock is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America It is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.