NEW ORLEANS — Court watchdogs and advocates for victims of sexual abuse are calling for veteran New Orleans Criminal Court Judge Benedict Willard to be punished and voted out of office after his controversial actions in two recent rape trials.
Willard’s critics say the judge’s angry outbursts have been a problem over more than two decades on the bench. But they’re raising fresh concerns after Willard’s decision to remove members of the district attorney’s office during a rape trial last month reverberated to affect a totally separate case this week.
According to court records, during the rape trial of Freddie Sterling on Aug. 21, the judge was notified that a male juror had come onto a female DA’s office employee. In a discussion that was not in open court, Willard allegedly called the woman from the DA’s Special Victims Unit a “distraction” and ordered her removed from court, rather than simply replacing the juror who had allegedly commented on her looks and made suggestive comments to her.
When First Assistant District Attorney Ned McGowan asked Willard to put his actions and reasons on the record, the judge immediately ordered McGowan removed from the court. McGowan accused the judge of “cowardice” as he was being escorted out.
“Go get me some more deputies,” Willard said, according to a court transcript. “I’m asking you to leave once again out of the disrespect that you’re performing in terms of dealing with this court. Deputy, the first assistant DA needs to leave. He’s being disruptive, disrespectful, and improper.”
McGowan appeared in Willard’s court at least two more times after that without incident, including on Sept. 5 during a pre-trial hearing in the state’s child-rape case against pedophile Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, which has garnered national attention. But when McGowan appeared again for Hecker’s trial Tuesday, the judge resumed his anger.
He again accused McGowan of “disrespect” and abruptly announced he was transferring the case to another court. The court’s minute entry says Willard recused himself “due to the negative activity of the state towards this court.”
WWL Louisiana asked the judge for an interview so he could give his side of the story. Willard said he was prohibited from doing so.
First elected to the bench 22 years ago, Willard is known for his quick temper and tendency to verbally mix it up with attorneys and members of the media. Rafael Goyeneche of the criminal justice watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission said this time Willard went too far.
“There have been incidents going back a couple of decades with Judge Willard,” Goyeneche said. “I think he has some anger issues. And I've seen him allowing his emotions to get in the way of his responsibility as a judge. And these are two of the most recent and most egregious that have played out.”
In the Sterling case, Willard decided to keep a man on a jury deciding the fate of a defendant accused of raping a woman after that juror had been accused of sexually harassing a woman on the prosecution team. The trial ended in a hung jury.
In the Hecker case, Willard recused himself just as the trial was about to begin, causing a ninth delay in a case he’s overseen for a year, in which the 93-year-old defendant’s physical and mental state has deteriorated to the point that a court-appointed psychiatrist called him only “fragilely competent” to stand trial.
Outside court Tuesday, frustrated Assistant District Attorney Andre Gaudin compared the impact of the judge's actions to the impact of Hecker’s abuse in the 1960s and 70s, which Hecker admitted during an August 2023 interview with WWL Louisiana and the Guardian.
Hecker, “with his position of authority and esteem and respect, was able to victimize them,” Gaudin said. “And now we have another person with authority who has, through their decision on the morning of trial to make a recusal, caused a massive delay. And that is exceptionally frustrating for everyone involved.”
Aaron Hebert is one of Hecker's alleged victims. He, too, is frustrated with Judge Willard.
“He should have recused himself a month or so ago when all this came up about holding the assistant DA in contempt,” Hebert said. “This is just another method, a way of putting everything off. It's a way of victims and survivors are, once again, hurt again.”
The DA’s office had 11 witnesses ready to testify, including several who say Hecker molested them, as well as the alleged victim in the case itself, who traveled from out of state to accuse Hecker of suffocating him unconscious and raping him in a church in 1975 when he was in high school.
“And (the DA’s office) had to go through the sordid details of these abuses at the hand of this pedophile priest with all of these victims, to prepare them for the trial,” Goyeneche said. “Everyone walked into court expecting that this is the day of justice, only to find out that the judge, without any advance warning, decided to transfer the case.”
The Hecker case was immediately transferred to Judge Nandi Campbell’s court. Gaudin and his boss, District Attorney Jason Williams, said Tuesday they hoped Campbell would move it quickly to trial, although no new date had been set Wednesday.
Hebert said he wants Willard voted out of office when he comes up for reelection in 2026.
Goyeneche said that's impossible if nobody runs against him. In Willard's three reelection bids, nobody opposed him.
“I believe his conduct should be reviewed by the Office of Special Counsel with respect to whether he violated some of the judicial canons,” Goyeneche said. “I believe that his conduct is a violation of some of the judicial canons.”
The Office of Special Counsel is part of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission. Its investigations are secret unless it refers the case to the Louisiana Supreme Court. In the four years since the Supreme Court changed the rules to make those Supreme Court cases public, there haven't been any against Willard.
Willard’s taxpayer-funded salary in 2023 was $174,893.70, according to his financial disclosure statement.
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