District H Judge's Election

Community Voice

In addition to the city council races in Iberia Parish on October 4th, there is another race that is not receiving very much attention - 16th Judicial District Judge, Division H. Division H is one of two minority judgeships that include Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes. While the district is specially carved out for the purpose of being able to elect a minority, EVERYONE should know that whoever is elected will be a potential judge for EVERYONE even if you do not live in the district. Here's a few things you should know about the 16th Judicial District Court and the race:

1. There are 8 judges for the 16th Judicial District Court - 3 from Iberia (Div. A, E and G), 3 from St. Mary (Div. C, D and F) and 2 from St. Martin (Div. B and H).

2. 5 of the 8 judges in the 16th Judicial District Court have been elected directly from the 16th Judicial District Attorney's Office (Div. D, E, F, G and H).

3. Both minority judges in the 16th Judicial District Court were elected directly from the 16th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

4. There are two candidate - L. Landry (incumbent from the D.A.'s office) and L. Pecantte-Burton (challenger).

Without making a statement about my observations of both candidates, let me say that we need to elect someone who is independent!

Right now, with 5 of the 8 judges from the D.A.'s office, a majority of the time you will have the D.A. prosecute you and then you will have one of his judges sentence you! And, in civil matters, the D.A. can influence the decision of his judges on most occassion.

I certainly would prefer to have at least a 50% chance of having an independent judge for whatever the case may be.