LAFAYETTE, La. - Two state judges will begin hearing arguments this week about whether an African American Iberia Parish judge should be recused from more than 300 criminal cases after she criticized prosecutors for a high rate of incarceration of black Louisianans.

The comments by 16th Judicial District Court Judge Lori Landry about the treatment of black defendants have prompted claims of bias by the district attorney's office and support from community members who believe the judge is being treated unfairly.

Prosecutors with 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhé's office filed motions for recusal in Landry's cases, arguing she should be removed because she is "biased or prejudiced against (the DA's office) such that she cannot be fair or impartial."

The 16th judicial district covers St. Martin, Iberia and St. Mary parishes.

Landry has accused the district attorney's office of incarcerating African Americans more harshly and at a higher rate than others, according to the recusal motion. The judge has suggested prosecutors have improper motivations and engage in "trickery."

First Assistant District Attorney Robert Vines, who is white, argued in the recusal motion that Landry has "engaged in abusive, inappropriate and/or bullying behavior" toward prosecutors, staff of the district attorney's office, victims and witnesses.

Some of the recusal motions are scheduled to be heard Wednesday by 16th Judicial District Court Judges Anthony Thibodeaux and Lewis Pitman.

'This is a violation'

“This is a violation of the constitutional rights of the people who elected me,” The Daily Iberian quoted Landry as saying last month during a hearing when Vines began filing recusal motions in cases on her docket.

Landry, who was elected to her position in 2002, did not respond to requests last week for comment. Before taking office as a judge, she served for nine years as an assistant district attorney.

Landry ruled in an unrelated case in June that one of her fellow 16th Judicial Court judges should not be allowed to sentence a woman in a manslaughter case, arguing years earlier he failed to issue a protective order that might have prevented her from shooting and killing her husband.

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In the move to remove Landry from her criminal cases, the district attorney's office claims she threatened to stick a pen in the eardrum of a prosecutor and a defense attorney. When the prosecutor asked why the eardrum, Landry, according to the motion, said, "Because, girl, it hurts, but it doesn't kill you. It makes you suffer. See what I'm saying?"

Because of Landry's actions, the district attorney's office argued in its motion that its ability to prosecute cases in a fair and orderly manner has been affected. Vines also said there has been serious harm to the public because of Landry's actions.

"Filing a motion to recuse a judge on the grounds of bias is always a step to be taken with great deliberation," Vines argues the motion.

Community rallies around judge

Community members have rallied around Landry, offering her support at earlier hearings and supporting her in Facebook posts.

"We know of the trickery and injustice that is happening in the 16th JDC with this very targeted, bullying, and racist tactic to have Judge Landry removed from hearing all criminal cases in the 16th JDC because she does not want to play jump rope or be friends with the DA Office," Robby Carrier-Bethel posted on Facebook. "Judge Landry is honorable, and a woman of God that has brought compassion, Integrity and judicial fairness with her to the bench (something all of them should have)."

Nearly 100 people, many of them African Americans, stood on the steps of the Iberia Parish Courthouse earlier this month to support Landry before a scheduled hearing to remove her from 75 cases, KLFY reported.

After the hearing was postponed, supporters left the courtroom.

"It's despicable that just because the district attorney’s office can’t get their way that they’re going to decide, 'Well we want you to be removed.' Like he has that much power,” said Khadijah Rashad, who helped organize Landry's supporters.

Rashad has also started a petition to support the judge, KLFY reported.

“People believe and support Judge Landry because of her integrity, because of her willingness to look at the evidence and if there is no evidence then the case is dismissed,” Rashad said.





The accusations

The motion to remove Landry has been added to virtually every criminal case that has been assigned to her with only the docket number and the defendant's name changing.

Prosecutors laid out more than 30 specific instances in the motion they argue support concerns that Landry is biased.

In one 2017 example, Landry implied members of the district attorney's office "knew or should have known" that former Iberia Parish Sheriff's deputies were involved in misbehavior, according to court filings. In a 2018 example, Landry called the district attorney's pre-trial diversion program "highway robbery."

Landry also told an assistant district attorney during open court in September that she had a "sour face" and that she was "salty," according to the recusal motion.

The district attorney's office has changed its policy to not allow unrecorded bench conferences with Landry "as a result of Judge Landry's abusive or otherwise improper comments," the motion states.

The motion also said Landry suggested victims are responsible for becoming victims of their crimes and repeatedly disparaged victims. In one sentencing hearing involving incest, Landry "suggested that the children's parents let the grandparents babysit the children too often, and that they had made 'decisions they should be paying attention to.'"

Landry's alleged bias against prosecutors has caused harm to the public, the motion said.

An Iberia Parish defendant was on probation and was arrested and faced new charges, including assault by drive-by shooting and simple battery. Prosecutors were moving forward with a motion to revoke that probation, but Landry said the defendant was in "substantial compliance" and "refused to hear the evidence of the new charges," according to court documents.

Two months later, the defendant was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and attempted second-degree murder.

"The allegations in that case are that she shot a 15-year-old boy, after previously threatening him because he was associating with someone who allegedly stole her friend's dog," Vines wrote in the motion.

Landry's "accusations and mistreatments had been escalating," Vines argues in the motion.

"All that the District Attorney's Office wants is what it is entitled to — a judge who fairly and impartially applies the laws to the facts before her and who treats attorneys, staff, witnesses, victims, defendants, and the public with respect."

Follow Ashley White on Twitter @AshleyyDi.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Prosecutors want black judge recused from 300 criminal cases



