An Orleans Parish judge on Wednesday rejected a legal challenge to a bid by Norris Henderson, a former life prisoner and prominent advocate for incarcerated people, for a seat on the Democratic State Central Committee.
Henderson served 27 years in prison on a second-degree murder conviction before his release on probation in 2003. He returned to New Orleans and founded Voice of the Experienced, which has led campaigns to expand voting rights for people on parole or probation.
That Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Paulette Irons entertained the attack on Henderson’s candidacy, in a challenge targeting his criminal past, raised questions among Henderson's supporters and a former Democratic party leader over the court's reach into party politics.
Last week, Henderson put in his name for a seat on the DSCC representing District 99, “given what happened in the last election, the fiasco from the Democratic Party,” he said.
Challenging his candidacy: Adonis Expose, a former statehouse candidate who served as King Zulu in 2017 and is running for the same committee seat.
Expose pointed to a clause in the state Constitution that bars a felon from qualifying for public office until five years after “the completion of his original sentence for the conviction.”
Expose's attorney, Evan Bergeron, argued that the life sentence that Henderson first received in 1977 – and received again after a retrial in 1996 before an Orleans Parish judge set him free on probation in 2003 – bars him from running.
“The original sentence here is a life sentence,” Bergeron said at a hearing on Wednesday. “Completion of a life sentence cannot occur.”
Henderson was convicted and sentenced to life for the 1974 slaying of 19-year-old Betty Jean Joseph, who was riding a bicycle when she was killed. In the emergency room, she allegedly named Henderson as one of her assailants. A few years earlier, Joseph gave a written statement to police claiming that Henderson and another man had killed her brother, court records show.
Henderson argues that he was wrongly convicted, having been denied the ability to present evidence to counter her allegations at his trial. Under Louisiana sentencing laws at the time, life in prison included the possibility of parole or probation after 20 years. Wednesday’s court hearing featured testimony from Henderson and Calvin Johnson, the retired Orleans Parish judge who set him free.
“It’s over,” Johnson insisted of Henderson’s sentence. “Once that probationary term is complete, the sentence is complete.”
Irons ultimately agreed in a written ruling late Wednesday, denying the challenge.
Earlier, Irons had rejected a plea by Henderson’s attorney, Emily Posner, to toss the legal challenge without a hearing. Posner described those party races as “closed” elections put on by a private organization that isn’t subject to the same qualifying rules.
“To me, it seems like a public office,” Irons responded.
One former party official criticized that view. Stephen Handwerk, the state Democratic party’s former executive director, pointed to state law that distinguishes local political candidates from party committee hopefuls.
“It’s ridiculous to me that a judge would even hear any of these arguments,” said Handwerk, who recently left Louisiana. “There’s no good that can come out of this.”
Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Henderson expressed frustration at the legal challenge.
"Folks want you to be part of something, but they don't want you to belong," he said.
Henderson wasn’t the only candidate for the DSCC to face a challenge this week, however. David Capasso and Donald Arbuthnot each faced a challenge over their alleged failures to file state income tax returns.
Civil District Judge Nicole Sheppard disqualified Arbuthnot, who works as an organizer for VOTE, Henderson's organization. Capasso agreed to withdraw from the race.
Only registered Democrats can vote in those committee races, which are on the March 23 ballot.