A Metropolitan Crime Commission report found that the average number of open felony cases per section of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court rose 21% from 2022-2023 to 2024-2025. The median time to resolve a case remained 211 days.
What to know
The 2024-2025 Judicial Accountability Report compares judges using three measures: average open felony cases, the share of pending cases open longer than a year and median time to resolve cases. The report says cases are randomly assigned to judges, with the goal of distributing caseloads of similar size and complexity.
The report ranked Judge Nandi Campbell of Section G first overall. It also warns that a 2027 reduction in court sections will increase workloads for the nine remaining sections. The names and sections below follow the report’s study-period assignments and match the court’s current judge listings.
How the report ranked judges
| Tier | Judge | Section | Overall rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | Nandi Campbell | G | 1 |
| Top | Camille Buras | H | 2 |
| Top | Robin Pittman | F | 3 |
| Top | Kimya Holmes | D | 4 (tie) |
| Top | Leon Roche | I | 4 (tie) |
| Middle | Benedict Willard | C | 6 |
| Middle | Simone Levine | A | 7 (tie) |
| Middle | Marcus DeLarge | K | 7 (tie) |
| Middle | Angel Harris | L | 7 (tie) |
| Lowest | Rhonda Goode-Douglas | E | 10 |
| Lowest | Tracey Flemings-Davillier | B | 11 |
The report says judges in the top tier had measures that were better than or consistent with the court average. Judges in the middle tier performed slightly below the overall average. Goode-Douglas and Flemings-Davillier had larger caseloads and longer case-processing times than the other judges, according to the report. It’s important to note Flemings-Davillier served as chief judge, which carries more administrative duties.
How judges compared by category
Fewest open cases
| Judge | Section | Average open cases |
|---|---|---|
| Nandi Campbell | G | 125 |
| Robin Pittman | F | 182 |
| Camille Buras | H | 188 |
| Kimya Holmes | D | 189 |
Court average: 207 open felony cases
Lowest share of cases open more than a year
| Judge | Section | Cases open more than a year |
|---|---|---|
| Nandi Campbell | G | 13% |
| Camille Buras | H | 25% |
| Leon Roche | I | 25% |
| Robin Pittman | F | 28% |
| Kimya Holmes | D | 30% |
Court average: 31%
Fastest median resolution times
| Judge | Section | Median resolution time |
|---|---|---|
| Camille Buras | H | 162 days |
| Nandi Campbell | G | 165 days |
| Robin Pittman | F | 178 days |
| Kimya Holmes | D | 196 days |
| Leon Roche | I | 199 days |
Court median: 211 days
Where the largest backlogs were
Goode-Douglas of Section E had the largest average caseload, while Flemings-Davillier of Section B had the second largest. Harris of Section L had the highest share of cases open more than a year.
| Measure | Judge | Section | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most open cases | Rhonda Goode-Douglas | E | 252 |
| Tracey Flemings-Davillier | B | 250 | |
| Highest share open one year+ | Angel Harris | L | 39% |
| Tracey Flemings-Davillier | B | 38% | |
| Benedict Willard | C | 37% | |
| Simone Levine | A | 36% | |
| Marcus DeLarge | K | 35% |
The slowest median resolution times were:
| Judge | Section | Median resolution time |
|---|---|---|
| Rhonda Goode-Douglas | E | 278 days |
| Tracey Flemings-Davillier | B | 252 days |
| Marcus DeLarge | K | 252 days |
| Benedict Willard | C | 246 days |
Why the caseload increased
The average number of open felony cases per section rose from 171 in 2022-2023 to 207 in 2024-2025. The report attributes the increase largely to improved investigations by the New Orleans Police Department and Louisiana State Police’s Troop NOLA, which led to more arrests and felony cases accepted for prosecution. It also says violent crime in New Orleans continued to decrease during the period.
The share of pending felony cases open longer than a year fell from 36% to 31%. The median time to resolve cases remained unchanged despite the higher caseload.
The report excluded Section J from its overall measures, describing it as an outlier. It says four judges presided over the section starting in 2024, including temporary judges after former Judge Darryl Derbigny retired in 2025. Section J averaged 404 open cases, with 53% pending more than a year and a median resolution time of 337 days. The court’s current website lists Judge John T. Fuller in Section J.
What changes in 2027
A 2026 legislative change will reduce the court from 12 sections to nine beginning Jan. 1, 2027. The report says caseloads from the three eliminated sections will be reassigned to the nine remaining sections, increasing their workloads.
The report recommends that judges work with prosecutors, defense attorneys and criminal justice agencies on a unified case management strategy. It says delays affect defendants, victims, witnesses and criminal justice personnel, and can increase costs to taxpayers.
READ MORE:New watchdog report ranks Orleans judges on felony case efficiency | Here are the numbers
