New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams has ordered a review of cases handled by embattled Judge Michelle Odnet when she previously served as a prosecutor – following her repeated use of the n-word in a leaked video.
The Lafayette City Court judge was suspended from the role without pay last week for her comments, which drew significant media attention.
Ms Odinet, who had been in the job for just over a year, was caught using racist jokes and slurs with her family, as they watched security footage of a Black man attempting to break into their home.
On the recording, one of Odinet’s children says, “And mom’s yelling n****, n****,” to which the Republican judge replies, “We have a n****. It’s a n****, like a roach.”
On Tuesday, District Attorney Williams condemned her language in the video as “deeply concerning to any person who genuinely cares about fair outcomes in our criminal system”, Nola.com reported.
Williams’ statement went on to add 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.”
Judge Odinet previously served as a prosecutor and an assistant district attorney in Orleans Parish in the 1990s.
An investigation would first have to be undertaken by the Judicial Commission, which, as The Daily Mail reports, could take months to conclude.
