N O L A.C O M
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T h u r s d ay, a p r i l 30, 2026
HUTSON INDICTED ON 30 COUNTS Charges against Orleans Parish sheriff include malfeasance, conspiracy, obstruction of justice
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High court rejects La. election map Finding strikes down congressional district as improper racial gerrymander
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson makes her way from a news conference after speaking to the media last year after 10 inmates escaped from the jail. BY MATT BRUCE and JAMES FINN Staff writers
Sheriff Susan Hutson, who rode a progressive wave to office on a pledge to reform New Orleans’ long-troubled jail, will leave that post under criminal indictment after a grand jury accused her Wednesday of dozens of state corruption counts. The indictment charges Hutson, 59, with 30 counts in all: 14 for malfeasance in office, three for filing or maintaining false
public records, three for obstruction of justice and 10 conspiracy charges for those crimes. Bianka Brown, the chief financial officer of the Sheriff’s Office, was charged with 20 similar counts. The 23-page indictment was secured by the office of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and released by her spokesperson late Wednesday. It reveals no details about the allegations against either Hutson or Brown. In each count against Hutson,
ä Attorney General Liz Murrill tackles prosecutions of politicians. PAGE 4A the indictment lists the date for the alleged crimes as May 2, 2022, to April 8, 2026 — her four-year tenure as sheriff. The charges against Brown also do not specify her alleged crimes or their dates, instead giving a range spanning her employment there.
ä See HUTSON, page 4A
WASHINGTON — In striking down Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district as an improper racial gerrymander, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday weakened but did not kill the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The finding in Louisiana v. Callais doesn’t invalidate the landmark, 60-year-old law. But it undermines the legal tool that minority voters “The have used for decades to challenge maps they argue spread their votConstitution ers across districts to dilute their almost never voting power. “At this point, the Voting Rights permits a State Act is not dead, but it is on life to discriminate support, clearly. It’s much, much on the basis of harder to use now,” Michael Li, a race.” redistricting expert with New York University Law School’s Brennan JUSTICE Center for Justice. SAMUEL ALITO, Breaking along ideological lines, writing for the the six conservative justices ruled majority the Republican-majority Louisiana Legislature sorted voters by race, which violates the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution. “The Constitution almost never permits a State to discriminate on the basis of race,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. Creation of majority-minority districts are justified “only when the evidence supports a strong inference that the State intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race.” Louisiana legislators argued that the 6th Congressional District was drawn to protect the districts that elect House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and Baton Rouge Republican Rep. Julia Letlow, formerly of Start, which is allowable. The Callais litigants, a group of voters challenging that map, countered that the only reason lawmakers drew a new map in 2022 was to create
ä See MAP, page 7A
INSIDE ä Florida Legislature completes redistricting plan. Page 3A ä La. leaders looking to understand what’s next. Page 7A
Bill merging New Orleans court clerks goes to governor BY MATT BRUCE
Senate Bill 256, by a vote of 25-11 along party lines. Proponents of the bill, which abolLouisiana lawmakers have passed ishes Duncan’s seat and installs the the controversial bill combining the Orleans Parish civil clerk of court as operations of New Orleans’ criminal the custodian over civil and criminal and civil clerks of court into a single cases, have argued that consolidating office, a move that will abolish the seat the clerks offices is necessary to align of newly elected criminal clerk Calvin the New Orleans trial court structure Duncan. with the rest of Louisiana. State senators on Wednesday apBut the move to oust Duncan, a forproved a slate of House amendments to mer life prisoner, has been a lightning
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 82 LOW 69 PAGE 8B
rod for critics who argue it is simply a move by Republican lawmakers from outside New Orleans to strip away the position from him after he was voted into office. Gov. Jeff Landry has vowed to sign the bill, which would take effect immediately. But the clock is ticking. Duncan was elected to serve as Orleans’ clerk of criminal court in November, garnering 68% of the vote to defeat incumbent Darren Lombard.
He’s set to assume office Monday, and if Landry signs the bill after Duncan is officially seated, he threatens to violate state laws against shortening an elected official’s term after they’ve taken office. “If I don’t get to take office, I hope the person that does makes sure that what happened to me doesn’t happen to other people,” Duncan said during a recent
ä See CLERKS, page 4A Duncan
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13TH yEAR, NO. 261