A judge in New Orleans wanted to file a lawsuit against a television news channel. But it didn’t violate any laws | New Orleans

A New Orleans criminal court judge who filed a police report against a local CBS affiliate after a segment critical of it aired finally admitted that her complaint was based on a section of law that she did not know had been repealed, according to a public document obtained by the station and prepared by the detective investigating the case.

“There was no violation…or criminal offense” that occurred when Judge Kimya Holmes attempted to turn WWL Louisiana — a Guardian partner — over to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) in September, Detective Marcus Dubuclet wrote in the document, which the outlet reported on Tuesday.

WWL was able to obtain this police report because the criminal case Holmes sought to open against the network had been dismissed without any action being taken against the network. The document – ​​a supplemental police report containing a more complete summary of a case than one filed at an earlier stage in the process – concluded: “The detective will not conduct any further investigation into this complaint and considers it closed. »

Holmes evidently fell out with WWL investigative reporter David Hammer after she published a story in August exploring how a $765,000 house was gifted to her in 2025 by a man she was engaged to at the time.

The judge’s fiance at the time, Arthur Allen, had been criminally charged weeks before the donation for fraudulently collecting more than $712,000 in taxpayer-funded Covid-19 pandemic aid.

Holmes allegedly told Hammer that she didn’t know Allen until years after he committed the crime he was accused of — and she maintained she didn’t know about the offenses until he pleaded guilty in April, after the couple broke up.

Hammer nonetheless reported on Holmes, Allen and the gated community home he gave her – which she continued to live in while he paid the mortgage – on August 24. It was less than two months before a tough re-election race against a fellow judge whose section of the court was eliminated by a new law.

WWL later reported receiving a Sept. 10 letter from the court administrator at the New Orleans criminal courthouse demanding that the CBS affiliate delete a public record listing the house address that Allen gave Holmes.

Court Administrator Robert Kazik’s letter further demanded that WWL remove images of the license plate number of a Corvette sports car leased by Allen that was photographed by a station source while parked in the courthouse garage in August.

Kazik’s letter also asked WWL to identify who photographed the Corvette. The letter cited a Louisiana law that gave “third parties” such as the media three days not to publish certain types of personal information about a judge once a court administrator requests it. It also made violations of this law a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment of up to 90 days and a fine of $1,000.

WWL first responded to Kazik’s letter on September 11 by removing videos containing information that the receiver’s letter wanted to be taken offline. The store later republished them with the address and license plate numbers blurred — and refused to identify who photographed the Corvette.

That same day, according to police records, Holmes filed a criminal complaint against WWL with the NOPD for allegedly “revealing his home address and vehicle information.” The NOPD supplemental report states that Holmes argued that Hammer’s story “put (her) in danger and (she) would like to pursue criminal charges against (WWL) and all those responsible for publishing the report.”

WWL ultimately ensured that the judge’s complaint to the police went nowhere by establishing that the state legislature had repealed the parts of the law cited in Kazik’s letter requiring media outlets to remove published information and making it a misdemeanor if they did not do so. These repeals took effect on August 1, weeks before Hammer’s story and Holmes’ complaint.

On September 25, police reported, a legal representative for WWL wrote to the NOPD to let the agency know that the provisions on which Holmes’ complaint was based had been removed and no longer had “effect.” WWL therefore expected the investigation to be closed, according to the supplemental report.

That prompted Dubuclet, the NOPD detective assigned to Holmes’ complaint, to contact her and discuss “the new information,” said the investigator’s supplemental report, which redacted the judge’s name but made clear he was referring to her.

Holmes “said she was not aware of any revision” to the specific law in question “and, if that is true, then she has no basis to file criminal charges.”

The end of the detective’s supplemental report echoes this sentiment, stating that the investigation was complete and no further action was pending. But the report said the sheriff’s office responsible for security at the New Orleans Criminal Courthouse would handle any further investigation that may be necessary in connection with what it described as the photograph “of his vehicle” in the facility’s parking lot.

Louisiana media lawyer Scott Sternberg previously criticized the judge’s actions after Hammer’s reporting on Allen and the gifted house.

“I can’t imagine any public official filing a criminal complaint in response to a news report” whose accuracy WWL said was never disputed by Holmes, Sternberg said.

Sternberg did not represent WWL as it grappled with Holmes’ police report. He pushed for the repeals to go into effect in early August, saying they removed parts of the law he considered “totally unconstitutional” because freedom of the press is a fundamental right in the United States.

Holmes’ unfounded complaint against WWL was one of two high-profile cases pitting the station in New Orleans Criminal Court in a matter of months.

Hammer’s WWL colleague Danny Monteverde — an investigative producer — and the network’s attorney, Elana Beiser, were handcuffed in early July by deputies at the courthouse while the outlet covered an indictment filed against the state attorney general, which was ultimately dismissed.