Louisiana Republicans race to scrap exonerated Calvin Duncan’s clerk job

Louisiana Republicans are racing to remove an elected court post that exonerated man Calvin Duncan won in New Orleans, putting his planned start date under pressure as Gov. Jeff Landry and GOP lawmakers move through the state legislative process.

Duncan, a Democrat, won the clerk of criminal court race last November with 68% of the vote, campaigning on reforming the justice system based on his experience after being imprisoned for nearly 30 years and then exonerated. His swearing-in was scheduled for May 4, according to the reporting. On Wednesday, Louisiana Senate Republicans voted to scrap Duncan’s job as part of a broader GOP effort to streamline the judiciary in Orleans Parish, a Democratic-leaning area with a predominantly Black electorate.

Duncan said in a statement to The Associated Press that he believes he is being targeted in retaliation by Louisiana officials who have long denied his innocence, even though his name is listed on the National Registry of Exonerations. He also described what he views as a pattern of consequences connected to his claims about being exonerated. “The Attorney General made it clear during the election that if I continued to accurately speak about my innocence and exoneration that I would face consequences from her office,” Duncan told the AP. He added, “We are seeing those consequences today as she and the Governor try to undo the will of 68% of voters in New Orleans.”

The legislative action is drawing a direct argument about the state’s priorities. Republicans say the effort is not personal and instead reflects a government-efficiency push. In an interview with the AP, Landry said eliminating Duncan’s elected office is about improving “government efficiency” and “cleaning up a system in Orleans Parish that has been plagued by dysfunction and corruption for years.” The GOP lawmakers and Landry have also pointed to the legislative auditor’s estimates that terminating the criminal clerk of court position would save the state $27,300, while the office said the costs of combining clerks’ offices were “unknown.”

Supporters of consolidating the clerk’s roles, including the idea of combining the criminal clerk of court with the civil clerk of court, have said the approach exists in other parishes. Sen. Jay Morris, the bill’s Republican author, acknowledged that once the criminal clerk of court position is eliminated, the civil clerk of court might face an influx of cases, and he said the state’s answer would be to “hire someone.” Morris also 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, and the bill on track for approval by the GOP-controlled House and then Landry would take effect immediately if signed.

Duncan, 62, entered the controversy after a wrongful-conviction case that began with the 1981 murder of 23-year-old David Yeager and led to Duncan spending more than 28 years in prison. According to the AP account, in 2011, prosecutors offered to reduce Duncan’s sentence to time served on the condition that he plead guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery. Duncan was freed after that agreement, but he continued trying to clear his name. In 2021, a judge vacated Duncan’s sentence altogether after agreeing he had been unjustly convicted.

The reporting also describes how Duncan’s later attempts to seek compensation became part of his political conflict with Louisiana’s top law-enforcement leadership. As state attorney general in 2023, Landry opposed Duncan’s petition to be compensated for his wrongful conviction, and Duncan withdrew the petition after Landry’s successor, Liz Murrill, threatened to go after Duncan’s law license. When Duncan ran for clerk, Murrill vowed to take “further action” against him if he did not stop calling himself “exonerated,” the AP said.

In the Senate floor debate, at least one Democrat condemned the move as an attempt to negate voters’ choice. Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat representing New Orleans, called the change “barbaric” on the Senate floor, saying, “I understand politics and I know you all are going to vote how you are going to vote. But just know, when we are all done here, history has a record.” The AP account said other New Orleans elected judicial officials whose jobs may be eliminated in the future would be allowed to serve out their terms, but Duncan would not.

Duncan has pointed to his ongoing role in court-related change beyond his clerk’s bid. The AP account says he was the driving force behind a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended nonunanimous jury convictions, and that he founded a nonprofit dedicated to expanding incarcerated people’s access to the court system. Duncan has said running for and winning the clerk’s office was the culmination of his life’s work.