Judge Lori Landry of St. Martinville, LA; bullying loser 

The State of Louisiana provided Lori Landry with a law license in 1989 after she graduated from Southern University School of Law.

FYI: Southern University is ranked as the 174th best law school in the country out of 202 ABA accredited schools.

It should be noted that Lori has had her significant snout firmly implanted in the public trough for the past twenty-six (26) years. Apparently, no self-respecting law firm in the greater New Iberia/Lafayette areas was about to offer Lori a good paying job.

In one matter, District Attorney Bo Duhe has taken affirmative steps to have Lori removed from more than 300 criminal cases across Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes because they argue she is “biased and prejudiced against this Office such that she cannot be fair or impartial.” (Katie Gagliano)

The allegations of misconduct that caused DA Duhe to seek the mass recusal of Judge Landry are as follows.

• Engaged in abusive, inappropriate and bullying behavior towards the prosecutors and staff
• Threatened to stab an assistant district attorney in the ear with an ink pen
• Physically intimidated an assistant district attorney for a perceived slight
• Blamed a victim’s family for “allowing” their children to be victimized
• Repeatedly engaged in in-court behavior calculated to humiliate prosecutors, and
• Refused to fairly and impartially apply the law.

Assistant DA Claire Howington reported instances where she felt Judge Landry engaged in inappropriate private meetings with defendants and defense counsel while barring representatives from the district attorney’s office from participating. She went on to testify as follows in support of the motion to recuse Judge Landry.

• “Judge Landry wants to do everyone’s job. She wants to be an advocate for the defense.”
• “Judge Landry was also antagonistic toward her after she sought the Third Circuit Court of Appeal’s intervention in a case.”
• “Judge Landry called her into court to chastise her at length for doing her job and implied she had improper communications with the Third Circuit. (she was previously employed by the Third Circuit)

On December 5, 2019, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed Judge Landry’s denial of several motions by DA Duhe for her to recuse herself from hearing criminal cases. In its decision, the court agreed with the DA that Judge Landry should not have denied the motions herself and that they should have been brough before another judge for a hearing.

The Court of Appeal’s decision clearly evidences the fact that Judge Landry thumbed her nose at Louisiana Court Rules that mandated that she not personally be involved in ruling on a motion for her recusal.

All that remains now is to see the decision that will be forthcoming from a recusal hearing to determine whether Judge Landry should be permanently barred from sitting on any criminal cases brough forward by DA Duhe’s office.

As we speak (ca. December 2019), Landry continues to sit as a 16th Judicial District Judge in St. Martinville, Louisiana.