NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court expressed extreme displeasure with Sen. Alan Seabaugh for leveraging his role as a state lawmaker to prolong an automobile accident lawsuit for years. 

But the justices didn’t appear convinced the law allowing legislators who are attorneys, like Seabaugh, to delay court proceedings should be declared unconstitutional. 

The seven-person court heard oral arguments Thursday over whether Seabaugh and Rep. Michael Melerine, partners in a Shreveport law firm, violated the rights of Caddo Parish resident Theresa Fisher. 

Fisher is suing for money to cover her medical expenses after an automobile accident in 2018. 

Seabaugh and Melerine represent the driver who hit Fisher, Steven Harder Jr., his father Steven Harder Sr. and the father’s insurance company, Hanover Insurance Group.

Fisher’s attorneys have alleged Seabaugh and, more recently, Melerine unreasonably delayed resolution of the lawsuit, first filed in 2019, by demanding numerous extensions related to their legislative work. After five years, the case is finally expected to go to trial next month. 

Seabaugh has served in the Legislature since 2011, including 12 years in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Melerine took his seat in the House in January.

Under law, state judges must postpone deadlines and court appearances for attorneys who are lawmakers if the proceedings will interfere with their legislative work. 

The question before the Louisiana Supreme Court is whether those automatic extensions represent an unchecked power for lawmakers. 

Legislators who are attorneys contend it would be difficult for them to continue to serve in public office if they had to worry about their law practice and clients while in their lawmaking sessions. Twenty-nine other legislators, Democrats and Republicans who are mostly attorneys, signed a brief to the Supreme Court backing Seabaugh and Melerine in the case.  

“[Fisher and her lawyers] want to throw the baby out with the bath water,” said Larry Frieman, a former lawmaker and the state’s chief deputy attorney general, who defended the law in court Thursday. 

‘Disappointing’ delay

The justices made it clear they were unhappy with Seabaugh and, to a lesser extent, Melerine’s conduct in the Fisher case.

Justice Jay McCallum referred to it as “disappointing” and “repugnant.” Jeannette Theriot Knoll, a former justice who has been temporarily appointed to fill the seat vacated by James Genovese, called it “egregious” and “unconscionable.” 

“I don’t think you’ll find anyone that likes what’s going on here,” McCallum said. 

Justice William Crain was aghast that Seabaugh had allegedly agreed to a trial court date in May 2023, a month that is the height of the regular legislative session every year. Seabaugh later backed out and asked for a legislative extension, according to Fisher’s attorneys. 

“He should never agree to a trial date during the session unless he intends to show up,” Crain told Frieman.

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The justices also appeared frustrated that Seabaugh, while in the middle of this legal dispute, authored legislation that would have saddled Fisher and her attorneys with extra legal expenses for challenging him. 

Senate Bill 185 ​​would have required attorneys who fight legislative continuances to pay the court costs and legal expenses for opposing state lawmakers. It also would have prohibited lawmakers from using the extensions for cases involving protective orders, stalking, domestic violence and sexual assault.

Lawmakers passed the legislation unanimously, but the measure didn’t become law. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed the proposal over concerns that it would give lawmakers too much authority over legal extensions.

Justice Piper Griffin, a Democrat from New Orleans, agreed with Landry’s sentiment Thursday. 

“Every single legislative session, there’s an attempt to make [the legislative continuance law] more draconian,” Griffin said, later adding: “It’s causing problems.”

When it comes to the Fisher lawsuit, the delays have caused so much frustration that even one of Seabaugh and Melerine’s clients in lawsuit, Steven Harder Sr., sided with Fisher’s attorneys. He is also asking the justices to limit or throw out the legislative continuance law. 

Vernon Richie, a new attorney for Steven Harder Sr., said the lack of resolution to the lawsuit causes stress for his client’s family. They aren’t sure how much they will have to pay Fisher if she wins the case, and the uncertainty has put them in financial limbo for years.

“They need closure,” Richie told the justices. 

Frieman, who worked closely with Seabaugh as a legislator, also tried to distance himself from his former colleague while defending statute.

“I really don’t want to talk about whether Sen. Seabaugh was right or wrong. I’m not here to defend him,” Frieman said at the hearing.

In an unusual move, Seabaugh and Melerine did not appear in person Thursday or file a brief for the justices to review ahead of time. Instead, they asked in early August to be removed from the case altogether. 

Their pending withdrawal appeared to strengthen Frieman’s  push to keep the law in place. He said the justices no longer had to rule on legislative continuances because the lawmakers would not be involved in the lawsuit moving forward. 

In a legal brief, Fisher’s lawyers described Seabaugh’s and Melerine’s decision to drop out as cynical and a “blatant attempt to sidestep this court’s review of the statute.”

Law limitations 

Attorneys J. Cole Sartin and Joseph Gregorio, who also represent Fisher, argued the current legislative extension law is an overreach of the Legislature into judicial matters. It prohibits judges from being able to manage their docket and move trials along, Sartin said. 

They did not suggest doing away with legislative continuances completely but want to see more guardrails in place. The law should be more specific about when a lawmaker who is an attorney can request a postponement, and opposing counsel should also be able to challenge continuations, Sartin said. 

The statute is written broadly. Lawmaker attorneys can seek an extension from the court for any time 30 days before until 30 days after a legislative session, as well as for travel and other meetings they attend as an elected official.

One justice who served as a state lawmaker, McCallum, questioned whether the law, while sometimes abused, reached the level of being unconstitutional. 

The Legislature passes other statutes that tie the hands of judges, McCallum said. For example, lawmakers have imposed mandatory life sentences in prison with no option of parole for people convicted of murder. Judges aren’t given discretion to change those punishments, he said. 

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Nevertheless, McCallum said there may also be “remedies” to limit misuse. He suggested it might clear problems up if extension requests were sent to the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, which could then monitor whether the benefit was being abused.

Limiting the number of legislative continuances that can be granted per case would be another option, Knoll said.

Wider problem

Seabaugh and Melerine aren’t the only lawmakers who have been accused of abusing this privilege.

In a legal brief supporting Fisher’s arguments, attorney Jennifer Prescott alleged she handled a civil lawsuit that took too long to resolve because the opposing attorney,  Rep. Kyle Green, used 10 legislative continuances to delay proceedings over two and half years.

Democratic Rep. Edmond Jordan angered a judge last year and lost a case when he filed legislative continuances and did not appear in court.  

Perhaps most seriously, Barron Bailey of Webster Parish said he has been stuck in jail for the past five years without a trial in part because his attorney, Democratic Sen. Katrina Jackson, has used legislative extensions. 

“I’ve been represented by Ms. Jackson since December 2019. I feel that she has only filed one motion in my case,” Bailey told KTBS-TV last month. “They say no news is good news, but she is not representing me to the best of her ability. She works mainly through paralegals and a private investigator.” 

Bailey faces second-degree murder and first-degree feticide charges in the 2019 death of Na’Toyedre Barrow, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Bailey says he is innocent. 

Prosecutor Hugo Holland, who works for district attorneys across the state, also blamed Jackson’s legislative extensions for the Baily’s trial delay.

“I cannot get it to trial because the defense attorney is constantly using the legislative continuance statute,” he told the television station. 

Jackson did not respond to an interview request from KTBS-TV.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana legislators interrogated New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams over reform policies that have allowed several hundred people to have their convictions voided or sentences reduced in the past few years, during a fiery Senate hearing Thursday at the state capitol.

Conservative lawmakers, Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill and several former prosecutors said Williams failed to fulfill his duty to defend convictions for violent crimes. They highlighted cases of convicted murderers and rapists released from prison through post-conviction relief, which allows new information to be considered after all appeals have been exhausted.

Williams, a Democrat who took office in 2020 on a progressive platform, defended his record and said his office is seeking to restore trust in the legal system. He has pushed for expanding the use of post-conviction relief to review cases where his office believes unconstitutional or unjust procedures were employed to reach convictions.

Murrill said she is reviewing what she called the “disproportionately higher number” of relief cases awarded by Williams’ office since January. He has granted relief in around 40 cases during that period, while district attorneys in neighboring Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes have only allowed for one case of relief each.

In almost every case granted by Williams’ office, the person had not asserted their innocence as a reason for relief, she said. District attorneys have an obligation to fight to uphold convictions, Murrill added.

Williams and his supporters have pointed to New Orleans’ history of police and prosecutorial misconduct and harsh sentencing policies as a reason for the elevated number of cases.

“The job is to enforce the law and not make the law,” Murrill said. “If the district attorney had a disagreement regarding policy, that’s not a basis for relief.”

Under a new law that took effect in August, Williams’ office is required to notify the attorney general of post-conviction relief cases and allow her to intervene.

Murrill and conservative lawmakers said the hearing was part of a process to assess whether Williams had committed overreach. They would consider additional legislative responses to his office’s actions in the future. Across the country, conservative legislators have sought to limit the independence of progressive prosecutors, according to University of Berkeley law professor Rebecca Goldstein.

State Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, said that Williams reflected the values and policies of voters who elected him to office and questioned the political motives behind the hearing.

Laura Rodrigue, a former New Orleans prosecutor and daughter of Williams’ predecessor, highlighted what she said was a flurry of instances where post-conviction relief was granted despite there being “no legal basis” for relief.

She raised the case of Eric Matthews, who beat his two-year-old to death with a belt in 1994 and had his conviction voided earlier this year on the grounds that his lawyer was ineffective. While Williams’ office said they opposed releasing Matthews and plan for a retrial, Matthews is currently out on bond.

“Finding some loophole to let someone out on, none of us should support that because it is evil, it is wicked,” Republican state Sen. Valarie Hodges said.

Republican state Sen. Jay Morris brought up the case of another man who stabbed his female partner to death and was later re-sentenced and released after Williams’ office conceded the ineffective counsel claims presented by the man’s attorney.

“Do you have a concern that that person who brutally murdered his ex-wife (is) being set free?” Morris asked Williams.

Williams said he did. But he explained there were other potential constitutional violations raised in the case and that acknowledging them could have “exposed my office to a lawsuit.”

He said his office had sought maintain a conviction and had shared statements from the victim’s family to the judge opposing the release.

Williams said he believed much of the testimony presented at the hearing was misleading and unfairly maligned the post-conviction relief process. He said his office was motivated to let people have a chance to bring new evidence into court, pointing to a case where one alleged victim recently admitted that he had falsely accused a man serving decades behind bars for armed robbery.

Some lawmakers accused Williams of operating without transparency over his decision-making in cases where relief was granted. His office has withheld documents from the public related to these cases on the grounds they are protected “work product,” the Advocate has reported.

Williams said his office plans to provide lawmakers and the attorney general with complete records for each case of post-conviction relief over the past year.

“We have nothing to hide,” he said.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.

New boat ramp at Acadiana Conservation Corridor WMA.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has opened a new boat ramp on Louisiana Highway 29 on the west side of I-49 at the Acadiana Conservation Corridor Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Acadiana Conservation Corridor WMA spans approximately 26 miles of scenic easement along I-49 in St. Landry, Evangeline, Avoyelles and Rapides parishes.

The WMA can be accessed by boat only and archery deer hunting is the only type of hunting allowed. No other hunting or firearms are allowed.

All visitors to Acadiana Conservation Corridor WMA and all LDWF administered properties must have either a WMA Access Permit or a Senior Hunting/Fishing License, Louisiana Sportsman’s Paradise License or Lifetime Hunting/Fishing License. Go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/wmarefugeconservation-area-licenses-and-permits for more information.

For information on this WMA, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/acadiana-conservation-corridor or contact the Lafayette Region at 337-262-2080 or Schuyler Dartez at sdartez@wlf.la.gov or Arthur Hebert at ahebert@wlf.la.gov