New Orleans district attorney acquitted in federal tax case

By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams has been acquitted in a federal tax case. The jury returned the verdict Thursday. The verdict lifts a legal cloud that had hung over Williams since before he announced he would run for the prosecutor post on a reform platform. Williams and an associate who had worked in his law practice had been accused in an indictment of conspiring to cheat on Williams’ taxes during a five-year period ending in 2017. Williams, a former City Council member, has long held that the charges were politically motivated. His associate, Nicole Burdett, was convicted on four separate counts involving her own taxes.