Michelle Odinet
American lawyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michelle Miller Odinet (born c. 1968) is an American lawyer who was elected as a Lafayette, Louisiana City Court Judge in November 2020. Odinet was previously an assistant district attorney in New Orleans and Lafayette and a public defender. She resigned from her judgeship on December 31, 2021, days after a video surfaced of her repeatedly using a racial slur.
c. 1968
Michelle Odinet | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michelle Marie Miller c. 1968 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Alma mater | H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Tulane University Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Political party | Republican |
| Children | 4 |
Early life
Michelle Marie Miller[1][2] was born c. 1968 in New Orleans, the daughter of Metairie attorney M.O. Miller II and his wife Diane.[3][4] The extended Miller family have "deep roots" in New Orleans, and in 1989, Odinet was "crowned Queen of the Hermes Ball."[3][4] She completed a B.A. at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in 1990 and a J.D. at Tulane University Law School in 1993.[5][4]
Career
Odinet joined the New Orleans district attorney's office as a prosecutor part time in June 1991. She became a full-time assistant attorney in November 1993.[6] From September to December 1996, Odinet was a part-time worker for the indigent defender program.[5] In December 1996, following the resignation of Robin Rhodes, Mike Harson, the fifteenth judicial district attorney, named Odinet as an assistant district attorney. In this role, she served as a prosecutor of misdemeanors.[5]
Odinet worked at a private law firm where she managed insurance defense cases.[7] Odinet took a break from her career to homeschool her four children.[7] In the fall of 2019, she returned to the Lafayette Parish, Louisiana public defender's office.[8] In 2020, Odinet was elected to a six-year term as Lafayette City Court Judge, Division A.[8] She ran as a Republican and succeeded Francie Bouillion.[7] Odinet won 56 percent (32,104) of the vote to nonpartisan Jules Edwards III's 43 percent (24,237).[9][10]
Use of racial slurs
In December 2021, Odinet took an unpaid leave of absence following the surfacing of a video of her repeatedly using a racist epithet.[11][12] Odinet issued a statement that she was on a sedative at the time and had no recollection of the event.[13] The Louisiana Supreme Court appointed Vanessa Harris to replace Odinet from December 17, 2021 through February 28, 2022.[14]
In December 2021, the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams, ordered a review of all of Odinet's New Orleans cases by the civil rights division in his office.[6] Odinet resigned from the bench on December 31, 2021.[15][16]
Personal life
In 1996, Odinet was a resident of Lafayette, Louisiana.[5] She is married to plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist Kenneth Louis Odinet, Jr.[4][17][1] Odinet is the son of Kenneth Odinet, Sr., who served as the state representative for St. Bernard Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007 as a Democrat, though he changed his party affiliation to Republican when he ran for Public Service Commissioner in 2008 and lost.[3][18][19] Odinet has four children, two sets of boy/girl twins.[9][7][3]