Disgraced Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet, called Tuesday by the defense in Assistant District Attorney Gary Haynes federal bribery trial, displayed an unusual amount of paranoia regarding her phone calls.
Odinet resigned from her judgeship in 2021, after she was caught on video using a racial slur to refer to a would-be burglar who was captured at her home. The video was shared online by a family member and first reported by The Current.
“And Mom’s yelling n*****, n*****,” says one male voice, to which another female voice responds: “We have a n *****, it’s a n*****, like a roach.”
Odinet worked with Haynes when he was the city prosecutor and she was a judge, and the two are long-time acquaintances. She briefly discussed how defendants in her court were assigned to take certain classes from vendors like Joe Prejean, who pleaded guilty in the bribery scheme involving pretrial diversion defendants in the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in which Haynes also stands accused.
Haynes is accused of taking kickbacks from vendors in exchange for funneling them into their programs. It’s unclear whether Prejean will be called to testify against Haynes.
“If you recommended defendants to take Mr. Prejean’s class, would you take money from Mr. Prejean?” Loew asked. “He would never offer it to me,” Odinet said. “It’s illegal.”
Odinet’s and Haynes’ conversations were picked up on wiretaps of Haynes’ phone. Testimony, which began last week, has included recordings of multiple instances of Haynes warning his alleged co-conspirators to stay off the phone and delete text messages, as he had been tipped off the feds were listening in.
Under cross examination, Department of Justice trial attorney Steven Loew asked Odinet about a conversation she had with Haynes concerning the FBI possibly listening to their phone conversations.
Odinet told Loew she thought the FBI was listening to her calls. “It was just a feeling you got,” Odinet said.
Taken aback, Loew said he was “confused” as to why she thought her phone was bugged. He asked Odinet if she thought the FBI was listening to her calls because she had just started a job as city court judge.
“It would be ludicrous” to think they were not listening, she said.
Odinet said that, in Lafayette City Court, “nothing was private. As you walk through the courthouse, everything” is being recorded on “video and audio.”
“Even on our phones,” she said.
“Your phone and Mr. Haynes’ phone?” Loew asked.
“Everybody’s phones,” Odinet responded. “Marketing listens to everybody’s phone.”
Lafayette City Court does not have a marketing department.
“Security cameras utilized in the Lafayette City Courthouse do not record audio,” City Court Judge Doug Saloom told The Current.
Loew asked Odinet whether she talked to Haynes about deleting texts because she thought the FBI might get its hands on her texts. Odinet said she could not recall.
Former Mayor-President Josh Guillory testified Tuesday that he wanted a pretrial diversion program in City Court so desperately that he threatened to fire Haynes, who did double duty as Lafayette city prosecutor, if Haynes didn’t move quickly enough. Guillory said he quickly backed off the threat once he realized the amount of work that goes into creating these types of programs.
The defense expects to rest Wednesday, followed by closing arguments. If convicted on all counts, Haynes faces more than 60 years in prison.
The case is likely to go to the jury Thursday. Haynes remains an ADA on leave without pay from DA Don Landry’s office.
Read more about Tuesday’s testimony from KATC here.