As Louisiana revives death penalty, a bill could shorten time from conviction to execution

As the state resumes executions of death row prisoners, a bill in the legislature aims to cut back on the time people convicted of crimes can spend trying to reduce or overturn their sentences, and it would vest more power over the process with the attorney general's office.

The move also comes seven months after state lawmakers took action against Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams over deals he made through the post-conviction relief process to reduce the sentences of long-serving inmates.

Attorney General Liz Murrill, a conservative Republican with a staunch pro-death penalty stance, says House Bill 572 would prevent victims from waiting decades to see justice done. She has long complained that families of victims must wait too long to see death row inmates executed due to lengthy appeals processes. In Louisiana, death row inmates have sat in prison for decades awaiting execution.

“Victims of crime deserve finality, but our system does not provide it,” Murrill said in a statement. “The decades of inaction perpetuated by lawyers and individuals convicted of heinous crimes and perpetuated by this system is cruel and unjust.”

The bill would apply to all inmates seeking to change their sentences, not just those on death row. 

Some criminal justice advocates argue the bill would increase the odds that innocent people stay in prison or are executed. Critics also say the bill sets overly harsh deadlines for the post-conviction relief process and could keep people in prison under illegal sentences.

“This bill may prevent a factually innocent person from ever getting out of prison,” said Jee Park, executive director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, an organization that works to exonerate innocent inmates.

HB 572 would reshape the process of post-conviction relief, which defendants use to try to get their sentences shortened or overturned after they have finished with their direct appeals. They can either raise flaws in the process of their conviction or argue they are actually innocent of the crime.

Republican lawmakers already clamped down on post-conviction relief last year, setting stricter timelines and procedural rules through Act 10 of the special legislative session on crime. That act also allowed the attorney general to appeal judicial orders granting relief for prisoners.

The bill would prevent prisoners who pleaded guilty to crimes from asserting factual innocence claims.

“If they plead guilty, they are admitting to the factual predicate, they are admitting that they committed the crime and they are waiving all of these rights to appeal,” Murrill said. “Nobody is required to plead guilty to a crime.”

But Park argues innocent people sometimes take plea deals and plead guilty to crimes to avoid the risk of a harsher sentence.

For an innocent person who is facing life in prison but gets offered a 20-year sentence, and who is uncomfortable with risk, “you might be inclined to take the 20 years instead of life,” Park said.

Details being negotiated

Acknowledging those concerns, the bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Slidell said he wants to pull from the bill the provision that would prevent people who plead guilty from asserting they are innocent.

“Our entire system right now is structured where people are incentivized to plead guilty to lesser offenses,” he said. “There are times when people plead guilty to something they didn’t do, because they’re facing charges and they don’t feel they have adequate representation or means” and they want a lesser sentence.

He expects there will be a lot of changes to the bill before it goes to a House committee for approval, he said.

Glorioso wants to ensure “we’re protecting those people that have legitimate rights and need to make sure that they’re able to present their case and bring new evidence,” he said. “We never want to have any innocent person in jail ever.”

But, Glorioso said, the state also needs to address “abuses in the system” that allow post-conviction relief cases to remain static for long periods of time.

When Louisiana executed Jessie Hoffman last month using nitrogen gas — the state’s first execution in 15 years — Murrill said she would attempt to “clear the underbrush” on long-dormant death penalty cases. Weeks later, she backed two death warrants for Caddo Parish inmates whose attorneys argued that they still had not exhausted all of their post-conviction appeals.

The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the inmates last week, recalling their death warrants and ordering a state district judge to hear their post-conviction relief claims before setting execution dates.

Murrill argued that it was an example of the need to change the law.

"The state has funded appeals in these cases with millions of dollars for the last 20 years and has little to nothing to show for it,” she said in a statement about the Caddo cases. “This is the reason we need comprehensive reform of post-conviction relief. Lawyers for these individuals obtained delay after delay then did nothing. District Attorneys and judges let these cases falter as well.”

A power shift

Currently, it’s up to local DAs to respond to post-conviction relief petitions as they see fit.

For example, Williams, the progressive-minded New Orleans DA, used that power in recent years to make deals with hundreds of prisoners, citing shoddy police work or suspect tactics by prosecutors.

The stricter post-conviction relief rules passed last year were expected to hamper that work, and it is unclear whether Williams has been able to make such deals since. A spokesperson for Williams' office did not return a request for comment.

If HB 572 passes, the attorney general could take over any post-conviction relief case from a district attorney, shutting down deals like the ones Williams’ office made. She also would automatically get control over post-conviction relief cases for death row inmates.

The bill also would prohibit death row inmates from filing applications within one week of their execution.

Currently, the constitution prevents the attorney general from intervening in criminal cases unless a DA recuses themselves or gives express permission. She does have the authority to intervene in civil cases, and HB 572 would move post-conviction relief to the civil code.

So far, district attorneys have not taken a public stance on the bill.

The Louisiana District Attorney’s Association “is reviewing HB 572 closely,” said executive director Zach Daniels, but has not yet voiced support or opposition.

Tighter timelines, other provisions

The bill would also set stricter timelines for prisoners seeking post-conviction relief.

All defendants would have to file within one year of a conviction; currently, they have two years, and capital defendants have unlimited time, said Cecelia Kappel, an attorney for death row inmates.

Defendants would also be required to file substantive motions more frequently, and judges would have deadlines to make certain rulings.

Murrill said that post-conviction relief procedures “have long been abused.” She argued defense attorneys draw out cases by repeatedly amending post-conviction relief petitions to get around time limits.

“The delays also do not serve a criminal defendant’s interest either because legitimate claims falter from inaction, forgotten on district court dockets for years,” she said.

Murrill also wants to cut back on “shell petitions,” where attorneys file bare-bones petitions and then return months later to flesh them out.

In capital cases, tighter deadlines would be problematic, said Kappel, as it can take years to get the records necessary for a post-conviction application.

It could also harm average prisoners without outside resources who struggle to get the records for their cases, said Park, of the Innocence Project.

Though state courts are the first line of appeal for death row prisoners, they can also file federal habeas corpus claims to review their sentences.

The bill also would prohibit death row inmates from filing applications within one week of their execution, a provision Kappel slammed.

“We’ve got the highest per capita exoneration rate from death row in the nation,” she said. “We have to use every single hour these guys have left to prevent a wrongful execution.”

Source: nola.com, Meghan Friedmann, April 15, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde