Michelle Odinet

Michelle Marie Miller[1][2] was born c. 1968 in New Orleans, the daughter of Metairie attorney M.O. Miller II and his wife Diane.[3][4] The extended Miller family have "deep roots" in New Orleans, and in 1989, Odinet was "crowned Queen of the Hermes Ball."[3][4] She completed a B.A. at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in 1990 and a J.D. at Tulane University Law School in 1993.[5][4]

Odinet joined the New Orleans district attorney's office as a prosecutor part time in June 1991. She became a full-time assistant assistant attorney in November 1993.[6] From September to December 1996, Odinet was a part-time worker for the indigent defender program.[5] In December 1996, following the resignation of Robin Rhodes, Mike Harson, the fifteenth judicial district attorney, named Odinet as the new assistant district attorney. In this role, she served as a prosecutor of misdemeanors.[5]

Odinet worked at a private law firm where she managed insurance defense cases.[7] Odinet took a break from her career to homeschool her four children.[7] In the fall of 2019, she returned to the Lafayette Parish, Louisiana public defender's office.[8]

In 2020, Odinet was elected to a six-year term as Lafayette City Court Judge, Division A.[8] She ran as a Republican and succeeded Francie Bouillion.[7] Odinet won 56 percent (32,104) of the vote to nonpartisan Jules Edwards III's 43 percent (24,237).[9][10] In December 2021, Odinet took an unpaid leave of absence following the surfacing of a video of her using racist language in her home.[11][12] Odinet issued a statement that she was on a sedative at the time and had no recollection of the event.[13] The Louisiana Supreme Court appointed Vanessa Harris to replace Odinet from December 17, 2021 through February 28, 2022.[14]

In December 2021, the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams, ordered a review of all of Odinet's New Orleans cases by the civil rights division in his office.[6] Odinet resigned from the bench on December 31, 2021.[15][16]

In 1996, Odinet was a resident of Lafayette, Louisiana.[5] She is married to plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist Kenneth Louis Odinet, Jr.[4][17][1] Odinet is the son of Kenneth Odinet, Sr., who served as the state representative for St. Bernard Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007 as a Democrat, though he changed his party affiliation to Republican when he ran for Public Service Commissioner in 2008 and lost.[3][18][19] Odinet has four children, two sets of boy/girl twins.[9][7][3]