Republican Liz Murrill was indicted for the alleged intimidation of New Orleans elected officials

Louisiana’s highest court has granted a stay of the proceedings in a criminal indictment targeting the state’s attorney general, in the latest twist of a high-stakes political battle between Republican state leaders and Democrats who govern its most famous city, New Orleans.

Liz Murrill, a Republican who is Louisiana’s first female attorney general, was slapped with a 16-count indictment on Thursday by a New Orleans grand jury charging her with intimidation and malfeasance. The charges effectively accused her of trying to intimidate New Orleans officials who fought a law passed by Republican legislators to overhaul the city’s courts.

Political tensions for months have intensified between Louisiana state Republicans and Democratic New Orleans officials over a new law that abolished a court clerk office won by Calvin Duncan, who spent nearly three decades in prison in connection to a murder that he was exonerated of having committed.

Murrill at one point told eight New Orleans officials – including Helena Moreno, the mayor, and Jason Williams, the district attorney – that they could face removal from their jobs because they opposed the law eliminating Duncan’s position.

Duncan has said he believes state officials were retaliating against him by eliminating the job that he won in November with 68% of the votes cast. Murrill and Landry have long refused to acknowledge Duncan as exonerated, though he’s listed on the National Registry of Exonerations.