Attorney General Liz Murrill on Thursday stood by her allegations that a candidate for New Orleans criminal court clerk has falsely declared himself “exonerated” and that District Attorney Jason Williams acted in the case despite a conflict — even as Williams and candidate Calvin Duncan rejected her claims.
Murrill sent Duncan a letter this week threatening legal action if he continued to claim in campaign ads that he was exonerated in 2021, when a judge vacated his conviction and sentence in a 1981 killing.
Much of Murrill’s two-page letter claims that decision was bogus. She says Williams, whose office agreed to vacate the conviction, should have recused because court records show he appeared in 2005 on Duncan’s behalf. Murrill also noted that the judge who signed off on the agreement, Nandi Campbell, had worked as a lawyer at Williams’ defense firm…