By: Chris Welty | fox8live.com | July 29, 2025
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The Louisiana Attorney General’s office is partnering with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office to clear a court’s backlog of hundreds of felony cases.
AG Liz Murrill and Orleans Parish DA Jason Williams met Monday (July 29) to discuss splitting the pending caseload on Criminal District Court Judge Darryl Derbigny’s docket.
“She’s saving taxpayers money,” said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. “She’s improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice system.”
This spring, the MCC released its judicial accountability report. The report said Derbigny has the largest and oldest inventory of open felony cases compared to all other Orleans Parish criminal court judges.
“Judge Derbigny, at the time that we issued that report, over a 12-month period of time had an average open inventory in excess of 415 cases,” Goyeneche said. “That was unheard of, astounding.”
Shortly after the MCC’s report, Derbigny requested and was granted medical leave. The Louisiana Supreme Court temporarily appointed retired Judge Calvin Johnson to hear cases in Derbigny’s courtroom.
“Now, we’re being told there will be a second ad hoc judge appointed to help to whittle down and reduce the massive inventory that Judge Derbigny allowed to occur on his watch,” Goyeneche said.
Williams said, “This is just really trying to right-size that docket and get it down to somewhat closer to what the other judges’ dockets are. We want all 12 sections operating as they should be at Tulane and Broad.”
The Metropolitan Crime Commission said Derbigny’s case backlog has cost the city $5.1 million in inmate housing at the Orleans Justice Center jail, compared to an average of $2.7 million per criminal court judge. Both the MCC and Williams said they believe moving cases forward will save taxpayers money.
“It’s important to both sides,” Williams said. “It’s important to victims, it’s important to witnesses, it’s important to police officers and it’s important to defendants. When cases stall, it’s bad for justice.”
Murrill said, “We’re working with the Louisiana Supreme Court and District Attorney Jason Williams’ office on managing the Division J docket. We are probably taking over somewhere between 225-250 cases to assist in moving those cases forward.
“This is another piece of the puzzle when it comes to some of the issues at the Orleans Justice Center. The delays caused by a docket stacked up with old cases also impacts other aspects of the criminal justice system. For example, approximately 100 of the people on the Division J docket are in custody at the jail, and have been for more than two years.”