Hugo Holland, 62, spent nearly four decades as one of Louisiana's most aggressive death penalty prosecutors, helping make Caddo Parish the county with more death penalty convictions per capita than anywhere else in the United States between 2010 and 2014. Of the people sent to death row during that period, 80% were Black, even though Black residents made up just under half of the parish population. Now Holland is running for judge — and he is currently the frontrunner.

A joint investigation by ProPublica and Verite News published in March 2026 documented the extent of Holland's record. In at least two death penalty cases, Louisiana judges found he withheld evidence. In a third, he compared a Black 16-year-old to a dog and told the jury to "get rid of it"; prosecutors later admitted Holland's team had failed to turn over evidence in that case as well. He also submitted false paperwork to obtain eight fully automatic M-16 rifles through a federal military surplus program, a finding by the Louisiana Inspector General that led to his 2012 resignation from the Caddo Parish DA's office.

In the case of the 16-year-old, later identified as Laron Williams, Holland secured a 2000 conviction for capital murder. Williams was sentenced to death, though that was later reduced to life without parole after courts found he had a severe intellectual disability. Fifteen years after the conviction, Williams' attorneys alerted the court that Holland had concealed extensive evidence: witnesses told police Williams was not present during the murder and detectives at the time believed older men were responsible and were pinning the blame on the teenager. Dozens of former DOJ officials filed a brief supporting the overturning of Williams' conviction. Holland has maintained Williams is guilty.

Holland also withheld evidence in the 1997 case of Bobby Hampton, where the Louisiana Supreme Court found he had not disclosed grand jury testimony identifying another person as the shooter. In a separate 2011 case, a state judge vacated the sentence of a prisoner convicted of killing a guard at Angola after finding Holland had concealed a jailhouse confession implicating someone else.

Defense attorneys' allegations of racism go beyond the courtroom. Holland once emailed a defense attorney saying he planned to spend Veterans Day driving his truck looking for "a Black guy or a Mex-can." He kept a portrait of Confederate General and early Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest displayed in his office during his time as a prosecutor. Defense attorney Matilde Carbia told ProPublica he placed an AR-15 on his desk when she arrived to review case files in an effort to intimidate her. A second attorney confirmed the incident. Holland called the email a joke and did not respond to questions about the other incidents.

None of it has slowed his campaign. Holland has raised more than $61,000 in under two months — roughly double what most candidates spend on an entire race for the First Judicial District Court in Caddo Parish, according to the Louisiana Illuminator. His campaign chair is the head of the local Republican Party. His donors include a sitting assistant DA, a neighboring district attorney, a former state judge, and members of major area law firms.

Holland declined multiple requests for comment from ProPublica and Verite News. Civil rights leaders and defense attorneys say his record makes him uniquely unfit. "He's demonstrated that he is untrustworthy, unreserved in his aggression and without any judicial temperament," said defense attorney Ben Cohen, who represented Williams.

Candidates have until the end of July to enter the race.