Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle M. Odinet resigned from her position Friday after going on overdue leave in reaction to a leaked home video that featured her utilizing the N-word.
In a letter sent to the Louisiana Supreme Court filed by her attorney Dane Ciolino, Odinet stated she takes full obligation for the painful language she was heard uttering in the video.
“I take complete obligation for the hurtful words used to describe the person who burglarized the lorries at my home. I am sorry for the pain that I have actually caused my community and request your forgiveness, as my words did not promote the public’s confidence and stability for the judiciary,” Odinet wrote.
Odinet’s lawyer informed HuffPost that the former judge “comprehends that this is completion of her public service, but just the start of what she must to do to earn the forgiveness of the neighborhood.”
Ciolino included that Odinet is “embarrassed, ashamed and sorry for what she has actually done and the difficulty that she has caused to her neighborhood.”
Odinet went on unpaid leave earlier in December when viral videorevealed her and others viewing security footage on tv of a robbery taking place in the driveway of her home. Though the people’s faces stayed off-camera, the voice was later on validated to be Odinet.
“And Mommy’s yelling n *** er, n *** er,” one male voice states in the video. Amid the lively banter, a female voice then says the N-word and roach in the same sentence.
“We have a n *** er, It’s a n *** er, like a roach,” the female voice says in the video.
Later on in the video, the group commented on somebody tripping in the security footage, dropping their wallet.
“That’s my phone where it fell out,” a male voice states
“The guy had a phone on him,” a female voice reacts. “You ought to have taken his phone and stolen from him, that f ** king a ** hole.”
“Go and get the weapon,” says another male voice. “It is essential, very crucial.”
Precisely who recorded the discussion and how it ended up being public remains unknown.
Later, in a declaration to CNN affiliate KATC, Odinet said she had actually been “provided a sedative” after having her house robbed and that she had no “recollection of the video and the disturbing language used during it.”
“My kids and I were the victim of an armed robbery at our house. The authorities were called, and the assaulter was jailed,” she said. “The event shook me to my core and my frame of mind was delicate. I was a wreck and am still not able to sleep.”
“I was offered a sedative at the time of the video. I have no recollection of the video and the troubling language used during it,” she included. “Anyone who knows me and my other half, understands this contrasts the method we live our lives.”
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, the Lousiana Black Caucus, and the NAACP all required her resignation at the time.