NEW ORLEANS — When Jason Williams was campaigning to be the Orleans Parish District Attorney, he ran on a platform of criminal justice reform. As a career criminal defense attorney, he drew a sharp distinction between himself and his opponent in that race, interim DA-turned-judge Keva Landrum.
But now, after almost three years as the city's chief prosecutor, Williams has undergone a professional and personal evolution. While he has decidedly moved the DA’s office in the direction of reform, Williams has taken mostly measured steps and even reversed his positions on some of his strongest campaign promises.
As a result, Williams has avoided the pushback that is being experienced by some progressive DAs in other cities across the country, some of whom have been the subject of recall petitions or had their powers restricted by their state lawmakers.
On the campaign trail, Williams promised several changes from the prior administration of DA Leon Cannizzaro. Among those was a vow never to prosecute juveniles as adults.
Five months into Williams’ tenure, two 15-year-old boys were booked with murder in the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Anita Irvin-LeViege, who was delivering food to her family.
Not only did Williams break his campaign promise in that case, but he has since done the same thing in several other juvenile cases since then. And that’s not the only campaign pledge in which Williams has shifted his position or made a complete about-face.
In a no-holds-barred interview, Williams candidly discussed his on-the-job evolution with WWL-TV, often in personal and emotional ways. Here are excerpts from that interview, edited for clarity and conciseness.
Mike Perlstein: During the campaign, you vowed never to charge juveniles as adults, and now you’ve done that several times. What led to that change in thinking?
Jason Williams: “The position to never charge juveniles as adults was the wrong one. And it actually hit us at a really tough intersection of some of our highest truancy rates. At the same time as we were having violent crime spiking.”
“I had to do it. It had to be done for the safety of this community and the safety of the young people we're actually talking about. That wasn't just something that we came up with on the fourth floor of the DA's office. That was after meeting with a number of young people in this community, a number of educators and parents.
MP: Sounds like you have gathered information by virtue of sitting in this position as the D.A., talking the victims, talking to kids who are trying to do the right thing. Has that sparked an evolution in your thinking.
JW: “Absolutely right. Absolutely right. And we all have to evolve and we all have to make sure that we are constantly doing whatever our jobs are better than we did the day before.”
MP: On another issue, you stated during the campaign that you wouldn’t use the multiple offender law (which allows prosecutors to increase the prison sentences of repeat offenders.) You’ve shifted on that.
A: “We have reversed course on not using it at all. And we have done very specific strategic trainings to all of our prosecutors about why the law is there and how it needs to be used … We're using it for rapists, murderers and armed robbers. And it's the right thing to do.”
Q: As a criminal defense attorney and as a city council member, you were in favor of bail reform. As DA, you recently wrote a letter to the judges suggesting that some bail amounts are set too low. That seems like a dramatic shift in your position. Explain that.
A: “Not a dramatic shift at all. It is completely in line with everything I said on the City Council. The conversations we had was related to money bail for low-level non-violent offenders. When we had this huge jail, we had thousands of people in jail because they couldn’t put $300 together. That was wrong. That’s still wrong. We weren’t talking about murderers, rapists and armed robbers.
“So what if we got rid of money bail? That’s fine. But we’ve got to replace it with something. I’m in favor of using the federal system based on dangerousness. Those people who that they are violent, then they need to stay in jail.”
MP: It sounds like you’ve had experiences as DA that have given you a fresh perspective.
JW: “This idea that there's a dichotomy between being a defense attorney and prosecutor, I don't think it's exactly how it's always painted. Truth of the matter is, justice is always a goal. When I was a defense attorney, I wanted safe streets and fair courts. As a prosecutor, I want safe streets and fair courts.
MP: Some people who become prosecutors talk about the visceral emotion of hearing from crime victims or family members of victims, and how that changes a person.
JW: “I haven't forgotten a single survivor or victim that I've ever been in contact with. You can't forget the things that have happened to them.”
“Really getting up close and personal with some very violent and very serious cases. That's absolutely going to have an impact on a person.”
Since the WWL-TV interview, Williams himself became the victim of a violent crime when he and his 78-year-old mother were carjacked in October in the Lower Garden District. Two 18-year-olds and two juveniles were booked in that crime.
Williams immediately recused his office of any involvement in that case, allowing the state attorney general’s office to take over. It will now be left to the AG’s prosecutors to determine if the juveniles in Williams’ case will be tried as adults.
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