Judge Darryl Derbigny was ranked poorly by the Metropolitan Crime Commission in his management of fe.lony caseloads
NEW ORLEANS — An Orleans Criminal District Court judge resigned from the bench as of Aug. 1, leaving others within the state’s court system the task of resolving his extensive backlog of criminal cases.
Judge Darryl Derbigny, a presiding judge in the court’s Section J, submitted a resignation letter with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office on July 30, according to The Times-Picayune. Derbigny had served as a judge since winning his first election in 2002.
A Judicial Accountability Report published by the Metropolitan Crime Commission in 2024 criticized the judge for his slow rate of resolving criminal cases. Such inefficiencies translate into higher taxpayer costs because defendants often must be housed for longer periods in jail by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, the report states.
“Compared to the most efficient sections of court, Judge Derbigny had three times as many open cases, three times the rate of cases open more than one year and more than double the case-resolution time,” the commission reported.
The report ranks Derbigny dead last in its efficiency rankings within the Criminal District Court, indicating that he had a median case-resolution time of 294 days last year. The court’s top-rated judge had a median resolution time of 141 days.
“Defendants in Judge Derbigny’s court cost $5.1 million to house in the jail compared to the court average of $2.7 million per judge,” the report said.
In orders that were signed at the beginning of the month, the Louisiana Supreme Court appointed two retired judges – Calvin Johnson and Franz L. Zibilich – to Section J to help whittle down the docket. Their temporary assignments began on Aug. 4, according to orders signed by Chief Justice John Weimer.
“The justices are always concerned about the backlog of cases throughout the state and that includes Orleans Criminal District Court, Section J,” the high court’s spokeswoman, Trina Vincent, said in an email to the Louisiana Record. “... The Supreme Court will continue to monitor the situation at Criminal District Court and supports the efforts to achieve and maintain a current docket in Section J.”
State Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court for its attention to the case backlog in New Orleans.
“I have offered assistance to the court and the district attorney in expediting review and action in these long-delayed cases to ensure justice for the victims of the crimes that were committed and accountability, as well as ensuring that those accused of a crime receive the trial the justice system promises to them,” Murrill said in a statement. “These cases are not recusals, and the prosecution of them therefore rests with the district attorney. We are here to help and my offer to do so remains open.”
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams' office did not respond to a request for comment on the case backlog.
About a decade ago, the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana recommended that Derbigny be publicly censured and to pay more than $57,000 to the criminal court’s Judicial Expense Fund as a result of accepting life insurance benefits that exceeded what the law provided. But the state Supreme Court found the commission had not sufficiently proved that the allegation represented misconduct under the Code of Judicial Conduct.
The court, however, found he was not entitled to some of the benefits he received and ordered Derbigny to reimburse the Judicial Expense Fund $10,003.
