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Despite its name, Houma City Court is a place with far-reaching effects on many people beyond the city’s corporate limits.
The three candidates who wish to sit as the court’s sole judge all say they have clear ideas on how far-reaching those effects can be, as they vie to take the place of retiring City Court Judge Jude Fanguy, who for generations – a total of 36 years – has shaped and defined the job, leaving what all agree are big shoes to fill.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4. If no candidate in the three-way race earns a margin of 50 percent of the vote plus one, a run-off will be held between the two highest vote-getters Dec. 6.
Randy Alfred, Cheryl Carter and Matt Hagen come to voters with varying degrees and types of experience with City Court specifically, and all three say their motivations are born of sincere desires to serve the public.
The court, housed in Houma’s former federal courthouse, on West Main Street, at its junction with New Orleans Boulevard, is where most landlord and tenant cases are heard, as well as small-claims suits, which most people navigate as defendant or plaintiff without the aid of an attorney.
It is also where nearly every criminal case involving defendants under the age of 17 is brought. The judge has broad discretion in such juvenile cases, including diversion to programs, probation or outright incarceration.
“Not an easy job”
Randy Alfred of Schriever, whose law practice generally involves wills and trusts, real estate and a small amount of litigation, already has a taste of what the court looks like from the judge’s point of view, having filled in for Fanguy in the past. The Louisiana Supreme Court allows City Court judges to appoint “ad hoc” replacements if they will be out of town or otherwise cannot serve. Alfred is the son-in-law of the late District Judge Cleveland Marcel, who was once Fanguy’s law partner.
“If it is done right, it is not an easy job,” said Alfred, as he summed up his view of the City Court bench, which he recognizes as filling a unique niche in the local administration of justice at several levels. “City Court is the only court the people tend to make regular use of.”
If elected, he plans to work closely with staff to enable innovations like electronic filing and tracking of civil cases. The juvenile case mission of the court, Alfred said, is a “critical” public service component.
Alfred’s experience as an educator – he taught in Terrebonne Parish schools before opting for law school – is something he offers as a positive, because of the close contact it gave him with children and the perspective that gives him when looking at their cases.
Cheryl Carter comes to the election with eight years of experience as a prosecutor in juvenile court, one component of a legal career that has included private practice – much of it litigating for poor people – as well as work prosecuting cases in the U.S. possession of Guam.
Judgeship a ministry
Carter is currently a staff attorney for the state’s Office of Juvenile Justice; That experience, coupled with experience as a prosecutor in Orleans and Ouchita parishes, gives her a unique view of the court and how it can best operate to serve the people most affected by it, whether children or adults.
Should she be elected, Carter would be the first Black judicial candidate in Terrebonne Parish to have been elevated to the bench in an actual contest where opponents were faced, and the very first woman to serve locally as a judge. Assistant District Attorney Juan Pickett will be sworn in next year to the 32nd Judicial District Bench, replacing Judge Timothy Ellender, and is the first Black person elected to the bench in the parish. But he was unopposed.
In addition to the historical significance, the issue of race bears mention because the parish’s current system of electing judges parish-wide – though only in District Court – is presently under fire. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has filed suit in federal court, alleging that the election scheme violates the federal Voting Rights Act, because it alleges it prevents Blacks from effectively selecting a judicial candidate of their choice when voting as a bloc. Although City Court elections are not a target of the suit, both sides in the federal litigation are expected to watch the results of this election closely.
“Race will always be the elephant in the room,” she noted. “But I am not running due to racial purposes. I am running because I am the best qualified with the most experience … Race is not a factor and should not be.”
Although her City Court experience has been prosecutorial, Carter maintains that there is a big picture aspect to that role as well, one that she will bring to the bench.
“I see it as a ministry,” Carter said. “You have to look at the family, what are the circumstances, what is the environment the child comes from.”
Juvenile detention plays a role in terms of option, she noted. But other alternatives can and must be considered.
“The idea of a pipeline from the school to the jailhouse has to stop,” Carter said, noting that she learned a great deal from observing Fanguy’s tenure. “He was very thorough in his evaluations of a case and his reasoning about a case and that is what I respect.”
The civil cases such as small claims and landlord-tenant, Carter said, are also of tremendous importance at a personal level to all who participate.
“In the civil cases as well we are dealing with human beings, with flesh and blood, and when you make that decision, there is a person to deal with, and there is an aftereffect to everything we do.”
Big shoes to fill
Houma attorney Matt Hagen has had experience in City Court, having worked for just over a year as a juvenile prosecutor.
“I am keenly familiar with the people who work there, who make the process work,” said Hagen, who has worked for nearly two decades as a 32nd Judicial District Assistant District Attorney. “That, coupled with my 17 years of criminal law experience and a total of 22 years with a small civil practice make me qualified to step in and fill the big shoes of Judge Fanguy.”
Hagen believes in diversion from detention for youngsters whenever possible.
“An assistant district attorney can use diversion for first offenders, and a judge can choose to use it,” Hagen said. “First of all, these decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis. It depends on what the crime was. Sometimes kids make dumb mistakes and there are other kids that are constantly coming through the system over and over again, and I think you have to find the balance between protecting victim rights and administering the appropriate consequences.”
His recent stint as a juvenile prosecutor, Hagen said, has given him a sense of purpose that cannot be found in private practice. Sitting as the judge that same court, which affects so many lives of so many day-to-day citizens, he said, would be a privilege and almost sacred duty, an opportunity to give back to the community.
Early voting continues through Tuesday at the Registrar of Voters Office, in the Government Tower on the first floor.
