A Louisiana judge resigned after being heard on video using racial slurs to describe an alleged burglar at her home. Michelle Odinet submitted resigned from the Lafayette City Court on Friday.
In her resignation letter addressed to the Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John Weimer, Odinet apologized and took “full responsibility” for the “hurtful words” she used in describing the individual who reportedly burglarized vehicles at her home.
The video that caused Odinet to lose her job was recorded on a cell phone. In the video, family members could be heard watching home surveillance footage on a TV screen.
The attempted burglar was captured on surveillance camera as he is seen running across a driveway at the former judge’s home in the Bendel Gardens neighborhood until he is tackled to the ground by at least two people.
A woman’s voice is heard using the n-word to describe the suspect and then comparing him to a roach.
“I am sorry for the pain that I have caused my community and ask for your forgiveness, as my words did not foster the public’s confidence and integrity for the judiciary,” Odinet wrote. “After much reflection and prayer, and in order to facilitate healing within the community, I hereby resign as judge of the Lafayette City Court effective immediately. I am sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary of State and hope that a special election can be scheduled to fill the vacancy that my resignation creates.”
Odinet’s resignation comes approximately twenty-one days after the video surfaced online. Over a hundred complaints have since been filed with the Louisiana Judiciary Commission, according to The Advocate.
On December 16, Louisiana Governor John Edwards had ordered that Odinet resign, as did other officials, including the mayor of Lafayette and a state senator. The video appeared to have sparked criticism too on a national stage, and Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che referenced it in his satire news segment “Weekend Update.”
Head of the NAACP’s Lafayette chapter, Michael Toussaint, has subsequently called for additional investigations into all the cases Odinet has handled for any potential prejudice or bias against people of color, Fox News reported.
“She understood that many people in the community were horrified by what she had said, and realized that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to preside over cases, and not have her impartiality questioned,” Odinet’s lawyer, Dane Ciolino, told KLFY. “It was just the right thing to do.”
Odinet, a Republican, was elected to serve as a judge for Division A of Lafayette City Court in November 2020. She had previously served as a prosecutor for the district attorneys in New Orleans and Lafayette.
