By: Matt Bruce | nola.com | October 19, 2026
With the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court set to absorb a seismic shift with the loss of three of its 12 felony judges in a few months, a new report from a criminal justice watchdog shows the court has been managing well with higher caseloads.
The Metropolitan Crime Commission found that the court’s judges kept pace with an increased workload over the past two years while reducing a backlog of longstanding cases.
Though crime is down in New Orleans, the independent organization attributed the rise in cases to better police investigations, leading District Attorney Jason Williams’ office to formally charge more suspects.
The Louisiana State Police presence in New Orleans through Troop NOLA, formed in 2024, has also increased the number of Orleans Parish cases prosecuted by Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office.
“Despite a higher volume of cases coming into the system, they’re maintaining the same case processing times. That’s a success,” MCC president Rafael Goyeneche said Friday. “This is a positive report about the performance of the entire court. It shows that the judges are working very efficiently to move their dockets through a greater workload from the two years before that.”
MCC has been scoring the criminal court’s judges in a study of “judicial efficiency” periodically since 2007. The report released Thursday comes as two incumbent judges challenge two others for their seats after the Legislature targeted the court for cuts.
MCC’s report compares the dozen judges by the number of open cases, the share of them that were unresolved after a year, and how long it takes to resolve them on average. This year’s report added up the data on a review of more than 4,300 cases in 2024 and 2025.
It follows a report last year that exposed a glaring backlog in Section “J,” then run by veteran jurist Darryl Derbigny. Revelations from that study led the Louisiana Supreme Court to intercede before Derbigny took a leave of absence in May 2025. He never returned to the bench, retiring in August 2025.
The Supreme Court appointed two retired New Orleans criminal judges — first Calvin Johnson, then Franz Zibilich — with a mandate to shrink the Section J docket. By the time voters elected John Fuller to lead Section J in May, he inherited a docket that had been reduced by two-thirds to about 150 open cases. Section J is among the three court sections that will disappear on Jan. 1.
The report ponts to the impact of court delays on the accused, victims and witnesses, as well as taxpayers and the cost of jailing defendants before trial.
Judges ranked
MCC ranked judges Nandi Campbell and Camille Buras one and two, respectively, in overall efficiency, the same as in last year’s study.
Campbell, who runs Section G’s docket, led the way in open cases with the lowest average of 125 for 2024 and 2025. Buras was the fastest judge, resolving cases in a median 162 days in her Section H courtroom.
Judge Robin Pittman ranked as the court’s third most efficient judge, the report found.
Judges Kimya Holmes and Leon Roche, both of whom are running this year, tied in fourth place, according to MCC’s aggregate rankings.
Judges Benedict Willard, Marcus Delarge, Angel Harris and Simone Levine each had slightly higher caseloads than the average and landed lower in MCC’s overall rankings for those two years.
Judges Tracey Flemings-Davillier and Rhonda Goode-Douglas lagged in the aggregate rankings. The study noted that Flemings-Davillier held the chief judge administrative duties for the two-year study period, on top of running her criminal docket.
The watchdog group dedicated a page of its report to contrasting Derbigny’s efficiency rates against the other felony judges in the court but excluded his numbers from its overall calculations as an “extreme outlier that skewed the court’s performance metrics
Since the last report covering 2022 and 2023, the average number of open cases increased 21%, from 171 cases to 207. The share of cases open longer than a year declined from 36% to 31%, however, while the median time to clear cases remained level at seven months.
Cuts, election loom
The report noted that fewer judges next year “will increase felony caseloads and the need for greater judicial efficiency throughout the court.”
Cuts are coming elsewhere as well. The DA’s office is expected to see $1.5 million less from the city budget next year, along with a $500,000 reduction from state lawmakers in prosecutor funding. Officials from Williams’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
Danny Engelberg, chief district defender, said the city slashed its funding for his office 31% last year. It’s expected to decline another 8% as the city scrambles to close a roughly $100 million deficit. Engelberg said his office, which represents roughly 85% of the city’s criminal defendants, is starting to feel the pinch.
“Every case is important and everyone involved is super important. So the time needs to be taken to do the work,” Engelberg said. “And if you don’t have the people who have the capacity to do the work, that’s where you may see things going at a different pace.”
Judges weigh in
The report comes as several judges jockey for their or others’ seats.
Levine, whose Section A was also abolished, is challenging Holmes for hers. Roche vacated his seat and is running against Buras. Goode-Douglas took Roche’s seat. Fuller isn’t running.
Holmes did not respond to a request for comment but basked in her ranking on social media. “The numbers speak for themselves,” Holmes said on her campaign Facebook page.
Levine defended her performance in a statement, saying the report didn’t account for her strong points as a judge.
“My court has centered on people,” Levine said. “It has ranked first and second for the lowest number of incarcerated pre-trial detainees, an evaluation not included in this report. And we have prioritized victims’ voices over processing speed.”
Roche has told voters he currently has the second lowest caseload, citing monthly docket reports from the court. He trailed only Campbell in the number of cases open more than a year.
“Judge Roché has ranked as one of the top performing judges in the court every year he has been on the bench,” said Roche’s campaign manager, Tyronne Walker, in a statement. “He prioritizes moving cases fairly and fast, and currently has the second lowest caseload of any judge on the court because he understands the impact of delayed justice.”
Buras expressed pride in having the fastest case resolution times over the two years.
“Court docket management is vital to ensuring that the rights of victims and the accused are protected and also saves the system precious resources,” she said. “I have a well-run court and love teaching new lawyers the importance of proper case calendaring, preparedness and pre-trial sessions as fundamental steps to fair and just case resolutions.”