By: Ken Daley and Rob Masson | fox8live.com | April 16, 2025
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Longtime New Orleans criminal court Judge Darryl Derbigny costs city taxpayers millions in jailing and police overtime costs because of the glacial pace with which cases progress through his courtroom, according to a new watchdog report on judicial efficiency.
Derbigny ranked dead last among the 12 judges on the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court bench in all three metrics examined by the Metropolitan Crime Commission — the number of open felony cases on his docket, the number of pending felony cases more than one year old, and the time it takes for cases in his courtroom to be resolved.
“Normally, we break the court down into two tiers,” MCC president Rafael Goyeneche said Wednesday (April 16). “But reviewing all the cases that were closed and the open inventories and the percentage of the docket that’s over a year old, we had to break the court down into three categories.
“You have the judges who are above average. You have the judges who are about average. And then you had Judge Derbigny, who’s in a category all by himself.”
Derbigny first was elected to the Section J bench in November 2002. He’s tied with Judge Benedict Willard for second in service time at New Orleans’ criminal courthouse behind Judge Camille Buras, who has served since 1998. Derbigny’s third term runs through Dec. 31, 2026.
But Derbigny’s performance stands out for its inefficiency, according to the MCC’s first judicial accountability report since 2017.
“Judge Derbigny sits alone in the lowest third tier of judicial efficiency,” the report said. “He ranks last in all three efficiency measures. … Defendants in Judge Derbigny’s court cost $5.1 million to house in the jail, compared to a court average of $2.7 million per judge.”
Judge Nandi Campbell, who took the Section G bench in 2021, was ranked as the most efficient judge in Criminal District Court, just ahead of Buras and Judge Robin Pittman.
Willard and Derbigny ranked 11th and 12th, though Willard was deemed to be close enough to the courthouse average to be included in the second tier of the report’s rankings.
But Derbigny stood out by coming in last place — by some distance — in each of the three metrics.
In 2024, the 12 sections of court averaged 217 open felony cases per month. Campbell ranked first, averaging 122 open cases. Every other judge averaged between 170-249 open cases each month, except Derbigny. His courtroom averaged 412 open felony cases per month.
As far as the percentage of pending felony cases open more than one year, Campbell again led at 15 percent, well ahead of the courthouse average of 35 percent. Derbigny’s average was worst at 51 percent. No other judge was above 40 percent.
The third metric — the median time taken to resolve a case — also was damning toward Derbigny. Buras ranked first with a median case resolution time of 141 days, besting Campbell (167 days) and the courthouse average (202 days). Cases took the longest to resolve if they were before Willard (259 days) or Derbigny (294 days).
“Judge Derbigny’s 294-day median case resolution time is three months longer than the overall court median of 202 days and five months longer than median case resolution time of the most efficient judge,” the report noted.
The MCC found that especially notable because of the potential cost to taxpayers.
The report said the average cost to New Orleans taxpayers to house pretrial inmates in the Orleans Justice Center jail was $2.67 million per judge. Five of the 12 judges had inmate costs within $200,000 of that court average. But Derbigny’s inmates cost $5.1 million, nearly double the average cost per judge to house inmates, the report said.
“With his docket, you have cases that have been there for years,” Goyeneche said. “That means witnesses and victims and prosecutors are having to take time off of work to come into court repeatedly. You’re talking about police officers who have to come into court repeatedly. The police pays overtime and there’s a real cost of this beyond housing pretrial inmates.”
The study found Campbell had just 18 cases in her inventory that were more than a year old, compared to Derbigny’s 210.
Both Derbigny and Campbell declined Fox 8 requests for comment on the report.
A defense attorney, who asked that her name not be used, said prolonged court delays also impact the accused.
“The delays are problematic,” she said. “The older the case gets, the less opportunity we have to interview police officers and get an accurate depiction of any evidence that they were able to collect. Often for older cases, police officers aren’t available. They may not even work for NOPD anymore.
“It’s extremely frustrating for the client and the client’s family. And it’s very difficult for someone to accept an answer of, ‘It’s out of my hands.’”
Goyeneche said the MCC plans to petition the Louisiana Supreme Court for potential remedies.
“I don’t believe Judge Derbigny is going to be able to work through this,” Goyeneche said. “We’re going to write a letter to the state Supreme Court asking to exercise or supervise authority to review his docket and determine if there’s anything that they should do to reduce his docket. Because justice delayed is justice denied.
“People allotted to his court are lingering. He will be in office for the next two years, and we can’t wait for the next election for him to either be removed or retire. … There are judicial canons that require judges perform their duties effectively and I think this information shows that he is not performing his duties fairly, efficiently or in a timely manner. And that is in detriment to the administration of justice.”