The Supreme Court of Louisiana formally suspended a Lafayette City Court Judge after she was heard making racist remarks in a video.
The court issued the order dispensing Judge Michelle Odinet on Thursday.
However, Odinet’s attorney Dane Ciolino reached out to the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana to inform them that Odinet intended to take an unpaid leave of absence from the court to consider her next steps, The Advertiser reported.
“This was a joint consent request, so now she is on leave without pay indefinitely,” Ciolino said Friday.
The court has since appointed an ad hoc judge, Retired Opelousas City Court Judge Vanessa Harris, a Black woman, to preside over the suspended judge’s cases.
Harris will remain on the bench until Feb. 28 and is subject to the completion of any “unfinished business,” according to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Odinet has been urged to resign this week, including a call from Gov. John Bel Edwards. She’s faced a lot of backlash after multiple people were recorded using a racist slur in a video over the weekend.
Although the video doesn’t show faces, multiple voices repeatedly use the “n—–” while a group of people watches footage of an attempted burglary. Ciolino did confirm Friday that Odinet used the language heard in the video.
“Mom’s yelling, n—–, n—–,” a male voice says, recounting the incident while watching the security footage.
“We have an—–. It’s an—–, like a roach,” a female voice adds.
Two Black defendants have filed motions to have Odinet taken off their cases, citing the video as their reason and saying Odinet is “prejudiced and bias (sic) against African Americans.”
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