America's Talking - New Orleans District Attorney Declined Nearly 40% of Felony Cases in 2024

Episode Date: July 13, 2025

(The Center Square) − Court records reviewed by The Center Square show a pattern in which defendants in Orleans Parish initially facing multiple felony weapons charges have had the vast majority of those charges dismissed, often as part of plea deals that result in minimal jail time and little long-term supervision. Meanwhile, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office, led by District Attorney Jason Williams, revealed last week that they have refused nearly 40% of felony cases in the last year. Take the case of Tyrone Howard, for instance. Arrested in September 2023 and charged with eight counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, along with illegal weapons possession and drug charges, Howard was facing a potential years-long sentence if convicted on all counts. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/louisiana/article_741d224e-e7a7-47d2-af48-99c78e90a1e9.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Steve Wilson. I'm the Southeast Regional Editor for the Center Square, and with me is Louisiana statewide reporter Nolan McKendry. Nolan, looking at the recent story that you wrote about the district attorney Jason Williams in Orleans Parish, deciding that he wasn't going to pursue 40% of felony charges, and this is a report that was made to the city. counsel. You look at the crime stats compared to 2023 versus 2024. You've got a 35% drop in homicides, which would have been even lower if not for the New Year's Eve attack that resulted in 14 people dying. But you look at like 44% drop in shootings, 38% drop in armed robberies, 49% drop in carjacking.

Would those crime rates have been even lower possibly if the, if district attorney Jason Williams was actually prosecuting these felony, all of these felony charges, are most of them? Yes, it's certainly possible. It's hard to tell. It's possible that they would be even lower had Jason Williams been prosecuted. to the fullest extent, it is true that crime rates are reportedly down significantly. And the NOPPD has attributed that to a range of things, improve crime prevention, statistics, better coordination with federal agencies, data driven policing.

Governor Jeff Landry authorized a state troop in New Orleans. That could have helped. And this is an important point. falling reported crime doesn't necessarily mean falling actual crime. It certainly doesn't mean that the causes of the drop in crime is clear. For instance, officers might be less inclined to arrest suspects for gun possession or drug felonies if they've seen that those cases are likely to be no billed or resolved with time served or for such defendants to receive a plea agreement where the felony is dropped and only a misdemeanor remains.

I mean, just look at this from the eyes of the officer. I mean, it's just basic cause and effect. Why take the risk? Why file the paperwork? Potentially put yourself in harm's way if the end result is a misdemeanor plea and early release. The other thing to note is that early on in Jason Williams administration crime rates rose significantly. According to the Metropolitan Crime Commission, which is one of the sources I use for the story that I wrote,

crime rates rose 69%, which is an enormous spike. And the district attorney's office was doing then what he is now, which is refusing to prosecute certain cases. So the crime rates could be completely independent from the policies of law enforcement and the DA's office. They're not necessarily coordinated. And it's just as possible that crime rates are, reflect fewer arrests being made and fewer charges sticking. Well, I guess the question begs to be asked. Is there a possible groundswell among the kingmakers, I guess you would say,

in the Crescent City, on whether they should replace Jason Williams and get someone in here who would even prosecute, let's say, I don't know if they no billed 40%, get someone in there that would no bill 10%. And do you think that, A, that could happen, and B, would that make a difference? I'm not sure. I mean, it's, it's, the district attorney's office, you know, theme of refusing to prosecute a great deal of cases is, is a thread that's been present. in his entire administration for three almost for four years now. And since then, I've only seen at least, I think I've only seen one petition for him to resign,

which secured about 1,500 signatures, which is actually pretty good for a petition. The race between Williams and his opponent in 2021 was pretty tight. He and Williams ended up securing about 58% of the vote. New Orleans is just, it's such a democratic stronghold. And the presidential election last year, Camilla Harris took 82% of the vote in New Orleans. And most parish-wide elections don't platform a single Republican candidate. I mentioned this, the petition that secured about 1,500 signatures. That petition came on the heels of another person who could have already been in jail if it weren't for.

for the DA's policies. The district attorney refused charges against the assailant three months earlier for armed robbery. And then after he was released, he stole a woman's car while she was pumping gas. She was dragged about 50 feet. She suffered terrible injuries and fortunately ended up surviving. Aside from that petition, that's about it. Williams has did a good job at softening his stance on certain issues. For instance, he platformed on never prosecuting juveniles as adults.

Since then, he has reversed course on that policy and has even admitted that it was the wrong one. So he's good at playing politician. Now, of course, you are seeing predictably pressure from more conservative or moderate groups, like the Metropolitan Crime Commission that I mentioned. They're publishing data, they're issuing reports, and warning that the current approach undermines safety and trust. Turning that into a political challenge is complex. Criminal justice reform has strong support in parts of New Orleans,

particularly among younger, more progressive voters, which, as I mentioned, New Orleans is a stronghold for such voters. nationally, I think you can argue there's an enormous counter political movement to the sorts of policies that Williams is pursuing much of that upswell, I think, came from demographics that have historically voted Democrat like black and Hispanic Americans in the presidential election. Obviously, there's a great deal of pushback from Republican leadership in the, in this, in this. the state. The governor's office, the attorney general's office, have been grilling the district attorney over his charitable dealings with criminals since the beginning of his administration. Another way that the district attorney has been offering more lenience to incarcerated individuals is through post-conviction relief, which is a topic that we've covered and is a process that

allows for an incarcerated person to have their sentence shortened or outright terminated. Well, thank you, Nolan, for joining us. That's all the time we have today. Be sure to follow us at thecentersquare.com.