Exonerated Man Calvin Duncan Wins New Orleans Criminal Clerk Election

Calvin Duncan spent three decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit before finally being exonerated. That’s an extraordinary story unto itself, but Duncan was not content to rest on his laurels. On Saturday, Duncan pulled off an upset victory when the people of New Orleans elected him as the new clerk of criminal court.

According to AP, Calvin Duncan won in what can only be called a landslide, receiving 68% of the vote according to preliminary results from the Louisiana secretary of state. “Tonight is a dream that’s been forty years in the making,” Duncan said in a statement Saturday night. “I hope that all those people who died in prison because we couldn’t get their records are looking down now. I hope they’re proud of me. We never stopped fighting for each other’s rights, and I will never stop fighting for yours. Thank you for this privilege.”

He ran against incumbent Darren Lombard, also a Democrat, who had support from incoming Mayor Helena Moreno and Rep. Troy Carter, who represents New Orleans in the U.S. House of Representatives. The New York Times reports that Lombard was also backed by the Times-Picayune, the city’s newspaper, which said Lombard had “strong administrative experience and a deep understanding of the office’s diverse and important functions.”

Criminal clerk is neither a flashy job nor one whose election is closely followed, yet this was one of the most closely watched contests in New Orleans. There were several factors for this, the first being that Calvin Duncan’s story is inherently inspiring. Duncan was convicted of fatally shooting a man in 1981 and was imprisoned at Angola. During his time incarcerated, Duncan avidly studied the law in an effort to clear his own name. He would help fellow inmates obtain documents related to their cases, file appeals, and even contribute to cases that were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Duncan obtained his freedom in 2011 after the Innocence Project New Orleans found inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case against him. Duncan pleaded guilty to lesser charges to be released. It wouldn’t be until 2021 that Duncan discovered evidence that police officers lied in court and a judge found him factually innocent, expunging the plea from his record. 

This was a man who was wrongfully incarcerated and managed to obtain his freedom, partially because he was able to access the documents that the clerk of the criminal court is in charge of managing. 

It appeared Lombard had the advantage early in the race. He held a decent lead in the first round of voting on Oct. 11, but during the primary that led to the runoff election last weekend, Duncan narrowly took the lead, gaining 47% of the vote against Lombard’s 46%. Lombard made a tactical error in focusing on Duncan’s criminal history. He cited a letter Louisiana’s Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill sent to Duncan, saying it was “a gross mischaracterization” to say he was exonerated because he pleaded guilty in his case. Lombard accused Duncan of being guilty of the crime despite finding him innocent. New Orleans has one of the highest rates of known wrongful convictions in the nation, so Lombard’s accusations likely rubbed much of the electorate the wrong way. 

A coalition of 160 lawyers and legal experts published a letter emphasizing that Duncan was, in fact, exonerated by all legal metrics. “The facts, the law, and the procedural history are clear,” the letter stated. Despite the ugliness of his campaign attacks, Lombard was graceful in defeat. 

​​“I want to congratulate Calvin Duncan on his victory,” Lombard said in a statement. “I stand ready to support a smooth and professional transition so that the important work of this office continues without interruption.”

Calvin Duncan was critical of the difficulty he had accessing files in his own case from the New Orleans criminal clerk. Duncan intends to speed up the process of digitizing the clerk’s paper file system and improving public access to those files. 

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