In the year just ending, the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office has not been resting on its laurels.
Over the course of the year, despite there being only five judges in Caddo Parish District Court who handle criminal matters, there were 55 jury trials prosecuted over the course of only ten months, since the Omicron variety of COVID-19 led to First Judicial District Judges issuing a stay on trials from January 1 through March 1, 2022. This represents the greatest number of such trials held in Caddo Parish in 15 years, when 49 trials were held in 2007.
In total, the office secured more than 2,500 adult felony convictions.
In Caddo Parish Juvenile Court, the office prosecuted 2,385 Juvenile Court criminal, ungovernable and truancy cases. Of this group were 607 felony criminal cases, 116 violent crimes cases, 852 misdemeanor criminal cases and 252 uncategorized offenses. Additionally, the office prosecuted 135 “Child In Need of Care” cases, removing children from parental custody and into foster care due to abuse or neglect.
The office also opened 1,249 child support cases in 2022.
Moreover, in August, the Caddo Parish District Attorneys Office was honored by the Community Foundation of Acadiana as one of its three recipients of the 2022 Leaders in Law Enforcement Awards, along with the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police Troop D.
“As these numbers attest, our Caddo Parish prosecutors have been busy administering justice for victims,” says Caddo Parish District Attorney James E. Stewart Sr. “Numbers like these are not possible without the efforts and hard work of my prosecutors and staff, our judges, Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith, law enforcement officers, witnesses who bravely come forward, court staff and jurors who serve our community, for making Caddo Parish the most productive court system of any large parish in Louisiana.”