November 17, 2025 • 19 mins
What an incredible story out of New Orleans over the weekend. 62-year-old Calvin Duncan has gone from being an 8th grade educated convicted murderer to an exonerated, college educated lawyer who just won Clerk of Criminal Court. Duncan spent 28 years behind bars, educating himself and helping fellow inmates before eventually being freed through the assistance of the Innocence Project. His political opponents used his past to try and turn voters against him, but it backfired and Duncan came out on top with 68 percent of the vote.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, that folks. It is Monday, November the seventeenth, and
congratulations to mister Calvin Duncan, a man who spent nearly
thirty years in prison for a murder he says he
did not commit. He is free today. But that's not
why we're congratulating him. Congratulations because he just got elected
(00:26):
to office in Louisiana. And with that, welcome to this
episode of Amy and DJ. A lot of congratulations. You hear,
a guy who spent thirty years in prison for a
crime he says he didn't commit. Congratulations, you're out. But
this is a different type of moment, and a county
clerk race Robes is making national headlines. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
This is not a race that is typically closely watched,
even locally or even reported on in the New Orleans area,
let alone, yes, nationally, even internationally. But the more and
more we read into the story of Calvin Duncan, the
more fascinated I became with him for a number of reasons.
But some of the headlines read something like this, a
(01:09):
man who was serving life in prison for murder just
won an election to oversee the very court system that
once imprisoned him. Or how about this the same court
system that denied him access to his own records. He
is now the clerk of the court. This is an
unbelievable about face and someone who took something that happened
(01:29):
to him and made it work for him. His life
changed in ways he couldn't have imagined because he was
convicted of this crime. He had an eighth grade education
period when he was imprisoned at the age of twenty one,
an eighth grade education.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And look, this is a this is well, I mean,
the fast is the story. But one part of it
is that you wouldn't normally look at a guy who
has the background in the resume that he has and
see him as a politician or see him as the
person you want to lead. He is uniquely qualified better
than anybody, I would argue in the country to do
(02:09):
this particular job, because quite frankly, a lot of us
don't even realize what your clerk does, your county clerk.
You don't go into the clerk's office that often, certainly
not now these days. I've made a trip to a
clerk's office every once in a while, I think for
a story when I was reporting locally. But other than that,
what do you go to your clerk's office.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
For right, everything's digitized, except in New Orleans, you know,
they do everything by paper.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
What they say they're trying to upgrade earlier, this was it.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
This year they had to send a team out to
a dump to go and try and find court records
that were accidentally thrown away. This is how archaic the
system is. But that's just how important this job is,
specifically in New Orleans. Right now.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Things get misplaced, it happens. But to that point as well,
he's maybe he'd have gotten out of prison sooner. Maybe
he would have been able to prove his innocence sooner
if he, as he argues, had better access to the
records at the clerk's office that he is now going
to be in charge of.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It's pretty remarkable and the irony is there, but it's
also just such a cool, cool story. So the person
who had held this office before was he was the incumbent,
Darren Lombard was his name. He comes from a prominent
political family in the New Orleans area. He had the
endorsement of the local paper. He had the endorsement of
(03:34):
the mayor elect. She's widely popular. He had the endorsement
from the state senator, so he was going to be
the guy. He was just going to be re elected
Darren Lombard. There was a three way race between Duncan,
who was another Democrat, and a Republican, and they ended
up having to do a runoff, and that runoff happened
this weekend. And for a while Lombard was in a
(03:57):
comfortable lead until he starts playing dirty with his political ads.
He went there, He actually went and tried to say
in television advertisements, in any sort of public appearance he
had that Duncan, he questioned Duncan's innocent he said, In fact,
(04:18):
the Louisiana Attorney General even put out a season desist.
You can't say that you were exonerated. You can't say
that you're an innocent man. And they started saying, or
at least putting questions in the voter's minds, that Duncan
was actually still tied to this crime and could be
perhaps was a cold blooded murderer. But the folks of
(04:40):
Louisiana didn't like that so much.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, he ends up winning overwhelmingly.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Did he not? Sixty eight percent of the vote he got,
And it's pretty cool. I didn't realize this, they say
one of the main reasons why this tactic backfired. New
Orleans has one of the highest the nation's highest rates
of no wrongful convictions. So this struck a nerve with
the folks of New Orleans, the people of Louisiana, who thought, Hey,
(05:07):
this man served twenty eight years in prison for a
crime he always maintained he didn't commit, and for a
crime that he was exonerated from. So it basically pissed
the voters off, and they voted overwhelmingly for Duncan. I
think that's a pretty cool It's not something that people
expected and a pretty cool outcome from an election that
(05:29):
we wouldn't have heard of otherwise.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
No, and this is a guy you mentioned eighth grade education,
but this is a guy who has a law degree
from Tulane. No, not Toulane, Lowising Clark down there. He
got his bachelor's at Tulane. He got his law degree
from Lewis and Clark. He has been doing this study,
if you will, for the past thirty years of his life,
as he was in prison for all that time. So
(05:51):
this is some sharp guy. They can't just dismiss as
not capable or not I don't know, with some experience
for the jobs. So they tried to go with the
thing that would work. Hey, here's a convicted killer. You're
not going to vote for him, are I guess that
didn't work. People were smart enough to see through that.
And we're smart enough to learn a little about this guy.
(06:12):
And once you start reading about him or hear about him,
just take a moment, just listen to him. You will immediately,
I guess ropes. He can win you over pretty easily
if you are I guess. We know folks in New Orleans,
we know how they are. They're playing spoken, laid back folks,
and he's one of them.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He is one of them. And look, we did a
deeper dive into the crime that he was accused of
committing and was convicted of committing. And it's pretty fascinating
when we start looking at these criminal trials. But he
was given a life sentence for the shooting death of
twenty three year old David Yeager. This was back in
August of nineteen eighty one. It happened during an armed
(06:52):
robbery and it was Yager's girlfriend. And you know, we
always hear about how eyewitness testimony is the least reliable testimony,
and yet it was her testimony she identified him as
the shooter. Police apparently showed her a mug shot of
him from when he was fourteen years old. He was
eighteen year Duncan was eighteen years old at the time
of the murder. Police show the victim's girlfriend a fourteen
(07:18):
year old picture of him and she says, yep, that's
the guy, and his attorneys now or later had said
she only was able to say that after she saw
him on television being paraded with handcuffs arrested for the murder. So, yeah,
in her mind he was the person. But that was
literally all they had to connect him. The trial lasted
one day. His attorneys spent like a couple of minutes
(07:42):
with him before he went into trial and just made
sure he had a suit and that was it. There
was no prep, there was no nothing. And so he
said he knew from that moment on he had to
educate himself, and that is what he did for twenty
eight years behind bars. It's remarkable. So, yes, he ultimately
got the Innocence Project involved. They were able to rep
him and they were able to actually question the accuracy
(08:05):
of that eyewitness testimony, and they were able to arrange
a deal in twenty eleven that allowed him to plead
guilty to a lower charge of manslaughter and attempted arm propery.
Given the time he'd already served, he got out. Here's
the deal though. In twenty twenty one, ten years later,
a state law came about where it allows somebody who
always maintained their innocence, who for whatever reason, had to
(08:27):
plead guilty to something that they still maintained they didn't do.
If the facts of the case were shown that that
person was innocent, they were able to actually be fully exonerated.
And that is what happened to Duncan. He was fully
exonerated in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yes, his opponents, he will proponents will certainly say that
the argument there being on the other side, they're questioning,
this is just semantics. This is all about semantics, and
they want to label them one thing and want to
label the case being thrown out the case the conviction.
It absolutely it was thrown out because it was deemed
(09:05):
that he did not get a constitutional trial, period, point blank,
so it was thrown out. The other side is arguing, well, yes,
that was thrown out, but it didn't you never were
in court and were able to found not guilty of something.
So it's just the back and voice semantics and then
pologizing and they want to do this.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Politics gets dirty, as it typically does. But I loved
what Duncan said, what Calvin Duncan said when he took
his victory lap. This happened Saturday night, when the results
came in. That's sixty eight percent of the vote. He said,
Tonight is a dream that's been forty years in the making.
I hope that all those people who died in prison
because we couldn't get their records are looking down now.
(09:47):
I hope they're proud of me. We never stop fighting
for each other's rights, and I will never stop fighting
for yours. That's powerful and it's understandable how he got elected.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I'm going to follow this guy. Really, he's probably going
to be again. I really do believe he's the best
qualified clerk.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
In the country, oh, without a doubt. And he was
known as basically the jail house lawyer. He wasn't an
official lawyer at that point while he was still in prison,
but he spent hours fighting for the rights of inmates
inside the prison from what they were able to eat,
to getting them dental care. He really used this knowledge
that he was gleaning. He said he spent more time
in the library than he did in his cell to
(10:24):
learn and to learn and to learn. And it's such
I get chills thinking about somebody who had everything working
against him and was wrongfully imprisoned, was not educated, and
found a way to completely change his life. And I
just I am in awe of somebody who can do that.
I love what He recently gave a speech at UC
(10:45):
Berkeley to some law hopeful soon to be lawyers, and
he said, I got out of prison on a Friday,
and I was on campus at Tulane University the next
Tuesday trying to get into law school, and they were like, yeah,
you got to get an undergraduate degree first. He didn't
even know. He just thought, I'm going to walk into
dew Lane, I'm going to get my law degree. But
that enthusiasm, that purpose, that tenacity, I just find that
(11:09):
so inspiring. And to see what he was able to
pull off in New Orleans over the weekend is just
such a cool inspirational story. It got me all worked
up this morning reading about him and everything he did,
even in twenty twenty because of his legal work, he
got the US Supreme Court to end non unanimous jury convictions.
There were only two states in this country that still
(11:31):
had that on the books, Louisiana and Oregon, and was
all rooted in Jim Crow laws. But look at what
he's done with everything that he was served.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Oh't know this guy is. It's one of those remarkable stories.
If he chooses to, he'd probably do. I don't know.
I'd be curious to see how he does with a
statewide campaign. But I wonder if he has his eye
on anything. I don't think he would have, But still
their folks are going to keep an eye on him
and think he might be able to do some good
for the party.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I would love to talk to him. I've just when
just reading some of the things he's said and how
he's inspired folks. Like everyone thinks, oh, they got a
bum rap or they aren't able to do something because
of X, Y and Z. When you hear his story
and you see what he's done with his life, it
is pretty pretty cool. When we come back, we're going
to talk about what his opponent, Remember the one we
(12:20):
were just talking about who tried to insinuate, and not
just insinua, but say that his opponent, Duncan, was a
convicted murderer and should be viewed at that way, and
certainly tried to win the race by saying that and
smearing him.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
He had something to say when he conceded his loss
over the weekend, and I think this is just so
much more about Duncan's specific case and more about what
we can all focus on in politics. I think we
can all learn something from him, and we'll get into
all of that when we come back continuing our conversation
(13:06):
about Calvin Duncan. He is now the Clerk of Court
in New Orleans. He won in a runoff race this
weekend with sixty eight percent of the vote, beating an incumbent,
a well known political figure and political family in New Orleans,
and really beat every odd you could even imagine to
be where he is today. He's a trained lawyer after
(13:29):
only having had an eighth grade education going into prison
convicted of murder and was going to spend the rest
of his life in prison, was able to literally free
himself from all of the work he did in combination
with the innocence projects there at New Orleans and now
he is an elected official in the state of Louisiana.
It is a remarkable story. But his opponent, Lombard, did
(13:53):
concede the race, and I was a little surprised when
I read, how I guess it just in these days
when first of all, just having someone conceider race is
a big deal now, I think. But the words he
used I was actually impressed with. I thought it was
going to maybe be mean spirited or not the kind
(14:13):
olive branch that he ended up giving him, which was
a lovely surprise to read.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Oh, election's over overwhelmingly ninety five percent over our lifetime,
the nastiest races you've ever seen. When it's time to concede,
they shut up, even if they have to just bear it,
even if they're not grinning and bearing it. You just
it's over.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Now. If only we could see that on the presidential level,
sometimes that'd be nice too. But yes, so I guess
I shouldn't We shouldn't be surprised to have someone actually
do the right thing. But I guess given these times,
sometimes maybe the bar has set much lower. But Darren
Lombard said this after acknowledging that he did in fact
lose the election, he said, I want to congratulate Calvin
(14:54):
Duncan on his victory. I stand ready to support a
smooth and professional transition so that the important work of
this office continues without interruption.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, that's your duty, that's your responsibility. That's an adult,
that's a grown up, no matter, he was a politician
the day before. Now you've got to be a grown
up and do your duty. Yeah, as you're supposed to do. Yes,
I'm pleased to hear as well.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And I do think that this is I was surprised
and encouraged that voters can and do look past some
very questionable choices perhaps we've made or he made in
his lifetime, but certainly was able to look past any
wrong that may have been done. When you see a transformation,
(15:39):
when you see a genuine transformation, do you think that
we all can recognize that? And perhaps people in power
don't give ordinary folks the credit that we can see
through that stuff. We can see when someone's telling us
the truth. We can tell when we're being BSD, we
can tell when someone is saying something that isn't true,
and vice versa. And so I think this option or
(15:59):
this ability for us to redemption, second chances. I don't
know that we give them enough to people. You're not
very big on second chances oftentimes, But.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Again, what are we talking about people you get judged
in society. We say you're willing to give a second chance.
But if this man still had a conviction and had
served his time and ran for office, would you have
supported him? Right? Did it need to be a guy
who was cleared of something first that we have to
make sure he's morally okay, at least in our eyes.
So yeah, I think this is a wonderful story. But
I think it is so unique, maybe even to not
(16:30):
just this guy and his experience in that office, but
also unique in the type of office he was running
for and the electric that he was dealing with, which
is particular in New Orleans. So I think a lot
of those things had to come together. But exoneration is
one thing. If we think about second chances, it's not
just because we got cleared. I can stand next to
you with my arm around you, because I think everybody
(16:51):
else thinks you're okay. What if he was still convicted,
did his time, would you put your arm around him?
So we need second chances come with people who actually
do wrong, serve their time and come back out and
try to get into society, not just people who have
done wrong and then got cleared and now it's okay
to give him a second chance, not h.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, you make a very good point, and I also
I'm curious how someone like Duncan didn't come out bitter,
didn't come out angry, didn't come out of prison pissed
off and angry at the world. What does that say
about someone's spirit and who they are deep inside or
(17:30):
within to be able to use that for good, not
just for himself but for other prisoners. I find that
to be remarkable. Do you think you're born with that?
Do you think he developed that? I'm fascinated by folks
who can take something because I think one of the
worst things that could happen to you is to be
accused of and to be punished for something you did
not do.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, what's your option? You don't have any options? And
he learned through experience, Yeah, you don't have any options.
They're going to ball up and cry, and some do
and can't go on. But no, he was the opposite
and have turned it and has turned it into something
A great story. We'll see what he does right now.
It's a great story that is serving in a not
(18:19):
yet in a practical way. He can make a practical
difference later, but right now he is still making a
solid spiritual he is making an example. He's still making
a difference just about what he's done already.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, and I love the fact that now he says
it can take years for folks in prison. I would
not have realized this to get access to their own
core documents that they can start working on their appeals, etc.
And he's going to change that. He says he is
going to make it fair for all prisoners to have
easy access to their documents. That's such a cool way
to turn around a story that could have had a
(18:52):
much worse ending. And so I know that I feel
better today about how I'm going to approach life just
by reading Calvin Duncan's story. And we can't wait to
follow him and see what else he does. But we
appreciate you all for listening to us. We hope you
all learn something as well from his story, and we
thank you for listening to this episode. I made me
(19:13):
Roeboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon
Hey, that folks. It is Monday, November the seventeenth, and
congratulations to mister Calvin Duncan, a man who spent nearly
thirty years in prison for a murder he says he
did not commit. He is free today. But that's not
why we're congratulating him. Congratulations because he just got elected
(00:26):
to office in Louisiana. And with that, welcome to this
episode of Amy and DJ. A lot of congratulations. You hear,
a guy who spent thirty years in prison for a
crime he says he didn't commit. Congratulations, you're out. But
this is a different type of moment, and a county
clerk race Robes is making national headlines. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
This is not a race that is typically closely watched,
even locally or even reported on in the New Orleans area,
let alone, yes, nationally, even internationally. But the more and
more we read into the story of Calvin Duncan, the
more fascinated I became with him for a number of reasons.
But some of the headlines read something like this, a
(01:09):
man who was serving life in prison for murder just
won an election to oversee the very court system that
once imprisoned him. Or how about this the same court
system that denied him access to his own records. He
is now the clerk of the court. This is an
unbelievable about face and someone who took something that happened
(01:29):
to him and made it work for him. His life
changed in ways he couldn't have imagined because he was
convicted of this crime. He had an eighth grade education
period when he was imprisoned at the age of twenty one,
an eighth grade education.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And look, this is a this is well, I mean,
the fast is the story. But one part of it
is that you wouldn't normally look at a guy who
has the background in the resume that he has and
see him as a politician or see him as the
person you want to lead. He is uniquely qualified better
than anybody, I would argue in the country to do
(02:09):
this particular job, because quite frankly, a lot of us
don't even realize what your clerk does, your county clerk.
You don't go into the clerk's office that often, certainly
not now these days. I've made a trip to a
clerk's office every once in a while, I think for
a story when I was reporting locally. But other than that,
what do you go to your clerk's office.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
For right, everything's digitized, except in New Orleans, you know,
they do everything by paper.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
What they say they're trying to upgrade earlier, this was it.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
This year they had to send a team out to
a dump to go and try and find court records
that were accidentally thrown away. This is how archaic the
system is. But that's just how important this job is,
specifically in New Orleans. Right now.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Things get misplaced, it happens. But to that point as well,
he's maybe he'd have gotten out of prison sooner. Maybe
he would have been able to prove his innocence sooner
if he, as he argues, had better access to the
records at the clerk's office that he is now going
to be in charge of.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It's pretty remarkable and the irony is there, but it's
also just such a cool, cool story. So the person
who had held this office before was he was the incumbent,
Darren Lombard was his name. He comes from a prominent
political family in the New Orleans area. He had the
endorsement of the local paper. He had the endorsement of
(03:34):
the mayor elect. She's widely popular. He had the endorsement
from the state senator, so he was going to be
the guy. He was just going to be re elected
Darren Lombard. There was a three way race between Duncan,
who was another Democrat, and a Republican, and they ended
up having to do a runoff, and that runoff happened
this weekend. And for a while Lombard was in a
(03:57):
comfortable lead until he starts playing dirty with his political ads.
He went there, He actually went and tried to say
in television advertisements, in any sort of public appearance he
had that Duncan, he questioned Duncan's innocent he said, In fact,
(04:18):
the Louisiana Attorney General even put out a season desist.
You can't say that you were exonerated. You can't say
that you're an innocent man. And they started saying, or
at least putting questions in the voter's minds, that Duncan
was actually still tied to this crime and could be
perhaps was a cold blooded murderer. But the folks of
(04:40):
Louisiana didn't like that so much.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, he ends up winning overwhelmingly.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Did he not? Sixty eight percent of the vote he got,
And it's pretty cool. I didn't realize this, they say
one of the main reasons why this tactic backfired. New
Orleans has one of the highest the nation's highest rates
of no wrongful convictions. So this struck a nerve with
the folks of New Orleans, the people of Louisiana, who thought, Hey,
(05:07):
this man served twenty eight years in prison for a
crime he always maintained he didn't commit, and for a
crime that he was exonerated from. So it basically pissed
the voters off, and they voted overwhelmingly for Duncan. I
think that's a pretty cool It's not something that people
expected and a pretty cool outcome from an election that
(05:29):
we wouldn't have heard of otherwise.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
No, and this is a guy you mentioned eighth grade education,
but this is a guy who has a law degree
from Tulane. No, not Toulane, Lowising Clark down there. He
got his bachelor's at Tulane. He got his law degree
from Lewis and Clark. He has been doing this study,
if you will, for the past thirty years of his life,
as he was in prison for all that time. So
(05:51):
this is some sharp guy. They can't just dismiss as
not capable or not I don't know, with some experience
for the jobs. So they tried to go with the
thing that would work. Hey, here's a convicted killer. You're
not going to vote for him, are I guess that
didn't work. People were smart enough to see through that.
And we're smart enough to learn a little about this guy.
(06:12):
And once you start reading about him or hear about him,
just take a moment, just listen to him. You will immediately,
I guess ropes. He can win you over pretty easily
if you are I guess. We know folks in New Orleans,
we know how they are. They're playing spoken, laid back folks,
and he's one of them.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He is one of them. And look, we did a
deeper dive into the crime that he was accused of
committing and was convicted of committing. And it's pretty fascinating
when we start looking at these criminal trials. But he
was given a life sentence for the shooting death of
twenty three year old David Yeager. This was back in
August of nineteen eighty one. It happened during an armed
(06:52):
robbery and it was Yager's girlfriend. And you know, we
always hear about how eyewitness testimony is the least reliable testimony,
and yet it was her testimony she identified him as
the shooter. Police apparently showed her a mug shot of
him from when he was fourteen years old. He was
eighteen year Duncan was eighteen years old at the time
of the murder. Police show the victim's girlfriend a fourteen
(07:18):
year old picture of him and she says, yep, that's
the guy, and his attorneys now or later had said
she only was able to say that after she saw
him on television being paraded with handcuffs arrested for the murder. So, yeah,
in her mind he was the person. But that was
literally all they had to connect him. The trial lasted
one day. His attorneys spent like a couple of minutes
(07:42):
with him before he went into trial and just made
sure he had a suit and that was it. There
was no prep, there was no nothing. And so he
said he knew from that moment on he had to
educate himself, and that is what he did for twenty
eight years behind bars. It's remarkable. So, yes, he ultimately
got the Innocence Project involved. They were able to rep
him and they were able to actually question the accuracy
(08:05):
of that eyewitness testimony, and they were able to arrange
a deal in twenty eleven that allowed him to plead
guilty to a lower charge of manslaughter and attempted arm propery.
Given the time he'd already served, he got out. Here's
the deal though. In twenty twenty one, ten years later,
a state law came about where it allows somebody who
always maintained their innocence, who for whatever reason, had to
(08:27):
plead guilty to something that they still maintained they didn't do.
If the facts of the case were shown that that
person was innocent, they were able to actually be fully exonerated.
And that is what happened to Duncan. He was fully
exonerated in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yes, his opponents, he will proponents will certainly say that
the argument there being on the other side, they're questioning,
this is just semantics. This is all about semantics, and
they want to label them one thing and want to
label the case being thrown out the case the conviction.
It absolutely it was thrown out because it was deemed
(09:05):
that he did not get a constitutional trial, period, point blank,
so it was thrown out. The other side is arguing, well, yes,
that was thrown out, but it didn't you never were
in court and were able to found not guilty of something.
So it's just the back and voice semantics and then
pologizing and they want to do this.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Politics gets dirty, as it typically does. But I loved
what Duncan said, what Calvin Duncan said when he took
his victory lap. This happened Saturday night, when the results
came in. That's sixty eight percent of the vote. He said,
Tonight is a dream that's been forty years in the making.
I hope that all those people who died in prison
because we couldn't get their records are looking down now.
(09:47):
I hope they're proud of me. We never stop fighting
for each other's rights, and I will never stop fighting
for yours. That's powerful and it's understandable how he got elected.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I'm going to follow this guy. Really, he's probably going
to be again. I really do believe he's the best
qualified clerk.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
In the country, oh, without a doubt. And he was
known as basically the jail house lawyer. He wasn't an
official lawyer at that point while he was still in prison,
but he spent hours fighting for the rights of inmates
inside the prison from what they were able to eat,
to getting them dental care. He really used this knowledge
that he was gleaning. He said he spent more time
in the library than he did in his cell to
(10:24):
learn and to learn and to learn. And it's such
I get chills thinking about somebody who had everything working
against him and was wrongfully imprisoned, was not educated, and
found a way to completely change his life. And I
just I am in awe of somebody who can do that.
I love what He recently gave a speech at UC
(10:45):
Berkeley to some law hopeful soon to be lawyers, and
he said, I got out of prison on a Friday,
and I was on campus at Tulane University the next
Tuesday trying to get into law school, and they were like, yeah,
you got to get an undergraduate degree first. He didn't
even know. He just thought, I'm going to walk into
dew Lane, I'm going to get my law degree. But
that enthusiasm, that purpose, that tenacity, I just find that
(11:09):
so inspiring. And to see what he was able to
pull off in New Orleans over the weekend is just
such a cool inspirational story. It got me all worked
up this morning reading about him and everything he did,
even in twenty twenty because of his legal work, he
got the US Supreme Court to end non unanimous jury convictions.
There were only two states in this country that still
(11:31):
had that on the books, Louisiana and Oregon, and was
all rooted in Jim Crow laws. But look at what
he's done with everything that he was served.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Oh't know this guy is. It's one of those remarkable stories.
If he chooses to, he'd probably do. I don't know.
I'd be curious to see how he does with a
statewide campaign. But I wonder if he has his eye
on anything. I don't think he would have, But still
their folks are going to keep an eye on him
and think he might be able to do some good
for the party.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I would love to talk to him. I've just when
just reading some of the things he's said and how
he's inspired folks. Like everyone thinks, oh, they got a
bum rap or they aren't able to do something because
of X, Y and Z. When you hear his story
and you see what he's done with his life, it
is pretty pretty cool. When we come back, we're going
to talk about what his opponent, Remember the one we
(12:20):
were just talking about who tried to insinuate, and not
just insinua, but say that his opponent, Duncan, was a
convicted murderer and should be viewed at that way, and
certainly tried to win the race by saying that and
smearing him.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
He had something to say when he conceded his loss
over the weekend, and I think this is just so
much more about Duncan's specific case and more about what
we can all focus on in politics. I think we
can all learn something from him, and we'll get into
all of that when we come back continuing our conversation
(13:06):
about Calvin Duncan. He is now the Clerk of Court
in New Orleans. He won in a runoff race this
weekend with sixty eight percent of the vote, beating an incumbent,
a well known political figure and political family in New Orleans,
and really beat every odd you could even imagine to
be where he is today. He's a trained lawyer after
(13:29):
only having had an eighth grade education going into prison
convicted of murder and was going to spend the rest
of his life in prison, was able to literally free
himself from all of the work he did in combination
with the innocence projects there at New Orleans and now
he is an elected official in the state of Louisiana.
It is a remarkable story. But his opponent, Lombard, did
(13:53):
concede the race, and I was a little surprised when
I read, how I guess it just in these days
when first of all, just having someone conceider race is
a big deal now, I think. But the words he
used I was actually impressed with. I thought it was
going to maybe be mean spirited or not the kind
(14:13):
olive branch that he ended up giving him, which was
a lovely surprise to read.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Oh, election's over overwhelmingly ninety five percent over our lifetime,
the nastiest races you've ever seen. When it's time to concede,
they shut up, even if they have to just bear it,
even if they're not grinning and bearing it. You just
it's over.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Now. If only we could see that on the presidential level,
sometimes that'd be nice too. But yes, so I guess
I shouldn't We shouldn't be surprised to have someone actually
do the right thing. But I guess given these times,
sometimes maybe the bar has set much lower. But Darren
Lombard said this after acknowledging that he did in fact
lose the election, he said, I want to congratulate Calvin
(14:54):
Duncan on his victory. I stand ready to support a
smooth and professional transition so that the important work of
this office continues without interruption.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, that's your duty, that's your responsibility. That's an adult,
that's a grown up, no matter, he was a politician
the day before. Now you've got to be a grown
up and do your duty. Yeah, as you're supposed to do. Yes,
I'm pleased to hear as well.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And I do think that this is I was surprised
and encouraged that voters can and do look past some
very questionable choices perhaps we've made or he made in
his lifetime, but certainly was able to look past any
wrong that may have been done. When you see a transformation,
(15:39):
when you see a genuine transformation, do you think that
we all can recognize that? And perhaps people in power
don't give ordinary folks the credit that we can see
through that stuff. We can see when someone's telling us
the truth. We can tell when we're being BSD, we
can tell when someone is saying something that isn't true,
and vice versa. And so I think this option or
(15:59):
this ability for us to redemption, second chances. I don't
know that we give them enough to people. You're not
very big on second chances oftentimes, But.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Again, what are we talking about people you get judged
in society. We say you're willing to give a second chance.
But if this man still had a conviction and had
served his time and ran for office, would you have
supported him? Right? Did it need to be a guy
who was cleared of something first that we have to
make sure he's morally okay, at least in our eyes.
So yeah, I think this is a wonderful story. But
I think it is so unique, maybe even to not
(16:30):
just this guy and his experience in that office, but
also unique in the type of office he was running
for and the electric that he was dealing with, which
is particular in New Orleans. So I think a lot
of those things had to come together. But exoneration is
one thing. If we think about second chances, it's not
just because we got cleared. I can stand next to
you with my arm around you, because I think everybody
(16:51):
else thinks you're okay. What if he was still convicted,
did his time, would you put your arm around him?
So we need second chances come with people who actually
do wrong, serve their time and come back out and
try to get into society, not just people who have
done wrong and then got cleared and now it's okay
to give him a second chance, not h.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, you make a very good point, and I also
I'm curious how someone like Duncan didn't come out bitter,
didn't come out angry, didn't come out of prison pissed
off and angry at the world. What does that say
about someone's spirit and who they are deep inside or
(17:30):
within to be able to use that for good, not
just for himself but for other prisoners. I find that
to be remarkable. Do you think you're born with that?
Do you think he developed that? I'm fascinated by folks
who can take something because I think one of the
worst things that could happen to you is to be
accused of and to be punished for something you did
not do.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, what's your option? You don't have any options? And
he learned through experience, Yeah, you don't have any options.
They're going to ball up and cry, and some do
and can't go on. But no, he was the opposite
and have turned it and has turned it into something
A great story. We'll see what he does right now.
It's a great story that is serving in a not
(18:19):
yet in a practical way. He can make a practical
difference later, but right now he is still making a
solid spiritual he is making an example. He's still making
a difference just about what he's done already.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, and I love the fact that now he says
it can take years for folks in prison. I would
not have realized this to get access to their own
core documents that they can start working on their appeals, etc.
And he's going to change that. He says he is
going to make it fair for all prisoners to have
easy access to their documents. That's such a cool way
to turn around a story that could have had a
(18:52):
much worse ending. And so I know that I feel
better today about how I'm going to approach life just
by reading Calvin Duncan's story. And we can't wait to
follow him and see what else he does. But we
appreciate you all for listening to us. We hope you
all learn something as well from his story, and we
thank you for listening to this episode. I made me
(19:13):
Roeboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon
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