The chief judge of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court held Sheriff Susan Hutson in contempt of court Wednesday, capping a heated hearing on Hutson’s recent alleged failure to transport arrestees to court from the jail.
The conviction carries penalties of up to six months imprisonment or a fine up to $500. Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier set sentencing for Aug. 4 and said Hutson must comply with the judge’s earlier order for weekend and holiday transport of arrestees until then.
Hutson left court without taking questions from reporters.
Flemings-Davillier had accused Hutson of ignoring a June 18 court order to transport arrestees to Magistrate Court on weekends and holidays. At Wednesday’s nearly two-hour hearing, she was joined by six other judges. Flemings-Davillier said her order was a holding from the court.
Her order last month, which took effect Saturday, July 12, came after Hutson had already declined “numerous” transport requests from the court, Flemings-Davillier wrote. Hutson failed to comply with the order by refusing to transport arrestees on July 12 and July 13, the judge wrote.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Magistrate Court operated seven days a week.
In a July 11 letter, Hutson offered to hold weekend and holiday court sessions instead at the jail, which has two courtrooms on the first floor.
“Given the existing challenges for OPSO, our OJC in-person courtrooms, and the past success of virtual hearings, we believe that the continued use of these (alternatives), especially on weekends and holidays, remains the most responsible course under current conditions,” Hutson wrote in the two-page letter.
An OPSO paralegal attempted to deliver that letter, along with a motion from Hutson to stay the court order, on Monday before contempt proceedings were ordered. But a clerk with Criminal District Court said the office couldn’t accept the document because it contained a technical error, according to OPSO.
“This solution would ensure in-person judicial proceedings while mitigating staffing and security burdens,” Hutson said. It’s unclear if the court responded to that offer.
Hutson said in a statement Tuesday that the agency doesn’t have the money or staffing to meet the court’s requests.
The work would require the services of at least 12 deputies a day and increase the agency’s annual budget by over $357,000, Hutson said, though she didn’t itemize those expenses.
“We want to be clear: the issue is not a matter of willingness; it’s a matter of operational feasibility,” Hutson said Tuesday.
The daily staffing would include three deputies assigned to courtroom security, four deputies for building security, two deputies to transport inmates and two deputies assigned to the temporary holding area, plus one supervisor.
Louisiana’s law around “constructive contempt” covers court clerks, sheriffs and others charged with assisting the court in “the administration of justice.” Those guilty of “willful neglect or violation of duty” could be subject to jail time, according to the law.
The latest turn in a tumultuous two months for Hutson.
After the May 16 escape of 10 jail detainees, one of which remains on the run, grave concerns were raised about Hutson’s political future.
She’s drawn five challengers to her re-election to a second term.
A leading candidate, former New Orleans Police Officer Michelle Woodfork, who held a brief stint as the department’s superintendent, has raised more than $190,000, about $128,000 of which she still has on hand, campaign finance reports show.
Hutson announced last week that she’d stay in the race, after suspending her campaign shortly after May’s jailbreak. As of Monday, her dormant campaign had just $715 in the bank, records show.