By WAFB Staff
Published: May. 30, 2024 at 6:52 PM CDT|Updated: May. 30, 2024 at 7:03 PM CDT
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana’s highest court has reversed a decision made by 19th Judicial District Judge Gail Horne Ray.
Judge Horne Ray, in April, tossed out the 1973 conviction of rapist Donald Ray Link.
Link was only in court in April to request being allowed to become eligible for parole.
Judge Horne Ray was in the process of reviewing transcripts from Link’s original trial to prepare to rule on that request when she claimed she found “improper instructions” given to the jury during the original trial. She decided that Link deserved a new trial for what she called a “glaring error.”
Justices of the state supreme court on Thursday reinstated the conviction, denied Link’s request to be granted parole, and admonished the judge.
Justices wrote that Judge Horne Ray ignored the fact that the error would not have been considered an error at the time of the original trial because certain rules about jury instruction were different.
Associate Justice Scott J. Crichton also chose to write a separate opinion where he called out the judge for ignoring the demands of the higher court.
Judge Horne Ray had initially faced complaints from Link’s defense team about the length of time it was taking her to decide if he was eligible for parole.
Justices stepped in and ordered her to rule on that request with urgency or be held in contempt.
Crichton wrote in a concurring opinion that the judge’s response to the court’s order was concerning.
“I write separately to express my concern about a district court judge engaging in such a patent abuse of discretion in response to an order from this Court,” wrote Crichton. “In this case, the district court judge had delayed ruling on defendant’s motion to clarify sentence for an inordinate time despite repeated instructions to act. This Court’s remand order was clear. It simply directed the district court judge to rule in a timely manner or show cause why she should not be held in contempt. The district court judge’s ill-conceived response to the order was to issue a grossly erroneous ruling that had a retaliatory if not contemptuous tone and, incredibly, resulted in the fashioning of an illegal remedy that even defendant had not requested.”
19th Judicial District Attorney Hillar Moore was responsible for bringing the judge’s decision to the attention of the state supreme court originally.
Moore argued that Link was only in court in April to request being allowed to become eligible for parole and said the judge had no business taking action that had not been requested by Link’s defense team. He thanked the justices for stepping in.
“We are grateful that the Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated this decades-old conviction and sentence. The court went one step further, ruling on the defendant’s motion that was originally before the trial court, confirming that the sentence imposed in 1973 was absolutely legal and valid,” wrote Moore.
Moore had also argued that Link would need to specifically file to have the conviction overturned on the error so that a judge has access to the entire record from the trial. Moore explained that was not an option, since the specific defense about the error in the original trial had already been shot down in a review years ago.
Moore explained that the judge also invoked an article under errors patent review, which he says applies only in reviews made by an appellate court. The state supreme court agreed.
The reversal of Judge Horne Ray’s ruling is the latest in a series of controversies involving judges from the 19th Judicial District.
The state supreme court had previously reversed a ruling from Judge Eboni Johnson Rose in the case of Bridgette Digerolamo.
Digerolamo was accused of waving a gun at people who were driving through her flooded neighborhood and pushing water toward her home. Justices wrote that Johnson Rose read a not-guilty verdict in court but allowed the jury to continue to deliberate and change its mind. Judge Johnson Rose then convicted Digerolamo before another judge stepped in and declared a mistrial.
The state supreme court later unanimously cleared Digerolamo of all charges.
Before that, Judge Johnson Rose convicted former Baton Rouge Police Officer Donald Steele of “misdemeanor” grade malfeasance even though the charge is considered a felony in state law. Attorneys noted that misdemeanor-grade malfeasance does not exist. Johnson Rose later chose to issue a new verdict and acquit the former officer of all charges.
Judge Johnson Rose has more recently been involved in another high-profile scandal after implying that Moore’s office targeted black offenders and wanted to “stick every ni**er in jail.” Read more on that situation by clicking the link here.
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