New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams has ordered a complete review of all cases handled by disgraced Judge Michelle Odinet during her time as a prosecutor during the 1990s, after she was caught on video repeatedly using the n-word.
Odinet, who has served as a Lafayette City Court judge for just a year, has been suspended from the bench without in the wake of the scandal that was sparked by the video.
The short recording, which caused a widespread uproar, earned a mention on Saturday Night Live and prompted Gov. John Bel Edwards to call for Judge Odinet's resignation, shows a TV set at her home displaying security footage of what appears to be a thwarted burglary.
Laughter and racist slurs are heard from the viewers — who are not visible on camera — as they watch two people capture the suspect, who is black.
Disgraced Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet (left and right) is on unpaid leave for using racial slurs targeting a black burglar. All her old cases from her time as a prosecutor will now be reviewed
Video footage captured the moment Republican Louisiana Judge Odinet, 52, said the 'n-word' twice, referring to a black man who allegedly had attempted to break into her home
On the recording, one of Odinet's children says, 'And mom's yelling n****r, n****r,' to which the Republican judge responds: 'We have a n****r. It's a n****r, like a roach.'
Odinet’s lawyer, Dane Ciolinio, confirmed that the judge used a racial slur. Ciolino said the judge feels 'humiliated, embarrassed, and sorry' for the harm she caused the community.
In announcing the review of Odinet's old cases on Monday, Williams called the language heard in the video 'deeply concerning to any person who genuinely cares about fair outcomes in our criminal system,' Nola.com reported.
The suspect Ronald Handy, 59, who is black, was arrested and charged with two counts of simple burglary
Williams' statement went on to say that 'no act, including a criminal act, justifies the denial of basic dignity inherent in the language used by Judge Odinet. That a judge and former prosecutor so comfortably employed a racial epithet serves as a telling reminder that the attitudes which fostered mass incarceration continue to undermine our pursuit of equal justice.
'Moreover, the casual dehumanization displayed by Judge Odinet raises serious questions about her impartiality and the presence of bias and discrimination in her work on the bench and during her time as a prosecutor.
Odinet, a member of a prominent New Orleans family of doctors, lawyers and philanthropists, served as a prosecutor and assistant district attorney in Orleans Parish in the 1990s under her maiden name, Michelle Miller.
During her two-year tenure in the office of District Attorney Harry Connick, she helped successfully prosecute Robert Graves, who carried out a deadly stabbing rampage in the French Quarter targeting gay men, in 1995.
Later that same year, she married Dr Kenneth Odinet Jr and moved to Lafayette, where she joined a private legal practice.
