Michelle Odinet Biography – Wiki
Michelle Odinet, a court judge for the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, resigned Friday over a video that appeared earlier this month showing people using racist language in her home.
Michelle Odinet apologized and walked away after the video was released. It showed surveillance footage, played on a television in her home, of an altercation outdoors with a robbery suspect.
As unseen viewers watch the video, they comment on the footage while repeatedly using a racial slur, CNN reported.
“I take full responsibility for the hurtful words I used to describe the individual who stole the vehicles from my home,” Odinet wrote in her resignation letter to Louisiana Chief Justice John Weimer.
Age
Michelle Odinet’s age is unknown.
Louisiana Judge Resigns and Apologizes
A Lafayette, Louisiana, city court judge resigned Friday over a video that appeared earlier this month showing people using racist language in their homes.
Michelle Odinet apologized and walked away after the video was released. It showed surveillance footage, played on television at her home, of an outdoor altercation with a robbery suspect.
As unseen viewers watch the video, they comment on the footage while repeatedly using a racial slur, CNN reported.
“I take full responsibility for the hurtful words I used to describe the individual who stole the vehicles from my home,” Odinet wrote in her resignation letter to Louisiana Chief Justice John Weimer.
“After much thought and prayer, and in order to facilitate healing within the community, I hereby resign as a Lafayette City Court Judge with immediate effect,” she wrote.
His departure comes after New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams said last week that he ordered his civil rights division to review all cases prosecuted by Odinet, who once served as an assistant district attorney. district in the most populous city in Louisiana.
“The fact that a judge and former prosecutor so comfortably employed a racial epithet serves as a telling reminder that the attitudes that fostered mass incarceration continue to undermine our quest for equal justice,” Williams said. “Furthermore, the casual dehumanization shown by Judge Odinet raises serious doubts about her impartiality and the presence of prejudice and discrimination in her work.”
Odinet had Taken a Sedative
Earlier this month, the Lafayette Police Department said, two vehicles were robbed at the driveway of a home owned by Odinet and her husband. One of the victims was returning home when she saw the suspect get out of one of the vehicles, police said. The suspect was hunted, captured, and held until officers arrived, police said.
In the video of Odinet’s home, which was circulated online, people appear to be watching footage of the incident on television. A male voice is heard saying, “Mom is screaming n *** er, n *** er.” A female voice says while she laughs: “She is black, like a cockroach”.
It is unknown who shot the video or how it was made public.
Odinet apologized and said she had “been given a sedative,” according to CNN affiliate KATC. She did not “remember the video and the disturbing language used during it,” she said.
“The (robbery) shook me to the core and my mental state was fragile,” she told the station. “I was devastated and still can’t sleep. They gave me a sedative at the time of the video.”
Attorney Dane Ciolino told The Acadiana Advocate that his client was “humiliated, ashamed and sorry for what he has done and the damage he has caused to the community.”
The state Supreme Court ordered her disqualification and appointed retired Opelousas City Court Judge Vanessa Harris to temporarily occupy her seat.
Heeding Calls to Step Down
Odinet initially took unpaid leave amid calls for his resignation from Governor John Bel Edwards, the local chapter of the NAACP, and the Louisiana Black Legislative Caucus. On Friday, he thanked those who demanded his resignation.
“Ms. Odinet understands that this is the end of her public service, but only the beginning of what she must do to earn the forgiveness of the community,” Ciolino said.
In her resignation letter, Odinet wrote that she was forwarding her correspondence to the Louisiana Secretary of State in hopes that a special election could be scheduled to fill the bank vacancy.
“I am sorry for the pain I have caused my community and I apologize, as my words did not build public trust and integrity in the judiciary,” she wrote Odinet.
