Stutes discusses district attorney office plans

Keith Stutes has made it clear that change has come to the office of District Attorney for the 15th Judicial District.
Speaking to the Rotary Club of Crowley Tuesday, Stutes focused his program on what the district attorney’s office really is and some of the changes he has made and others he plans to make moving forward.
“I know I put a lot of people in a difficult position — the position to make a choice, to choose a side,” he said. “My philosophy has always been ‘I never ask anyone to do anything I would never do myself’. I was the first one to make that choice — the choice to support me and my efforts to be the DA.
“So, I am the district attorney for all of you, for all of you; those who voted for me and for those who didn’t.”
The 15th Judicial District is comprised of Acadia, Lafayette and Vermilion parishes and has a population of about 350,000 people, roughly two-thirds of whom reside in Lafayette Parish.
Naturally, Stutes explained that talk will probably once again rise in the coming years about splitting up the district. In the meantime, however, Stutes, who is from Lafayette Parish, is committed to serving all three parishes. That is part of the reason he saw fit to have himself and his 32 assistant district attorneys sworn in together, as a unit.
“I took the step in the appointment of the assistant DAs that are going to sit with me and work for the citizens of the district; I decided we were going to be sworn together,” he said. “We are all one unit”
For him, that started with committing himself to time at all three parish offices and implementing procedures and people designed to help make sure each office is properly served.
“I’m particularly proud of the appointment of some special assistant DAs, in each of the three individual offices,” said Stutes. “The DA cannot be everywhere at once, despite what you may think.
“I cannot be in every parish, every day of every week. So I believe it is important to have in each parish an ADA that I will call the ADA-In-Charge. That ADA will be basically a full-time person serving as if I were there.”
In Acadia Parish, that job belongs to Assistant District Attorney Angie Wagar. Also appointed as assistant district attorneys in the parish were Burleigh Doga, Jack Nickel, Kim Hayes and Scott Privat.
Five assistant district attorneys were appointed in Vermilion Parish and 22 in total were appointed in Lafayette Parish.
What anyone familiar with the judicial system locally may realize is that a good chunk of Stutes’ assistant district attorney crop comes from the public defenders office. And, while he recognizes that may have been a controversial move, for Stutes it was a no-brainer.
“I decided to look at who were the best lawyers in Acadia Parish, and, as it turned out, they were public defenders,” he said. “I’ve been in the office long enough and have [gone] against public defenders long enough to say they’re real lawyers, believe me. They’re probably the best of the criminal defense lawyers.”
Stutes also joked that it’ll be nice to not have to go against them now that they are on his team.
His big change he sees moving forward will be the revamping and reinstituting of diversion programs for first-time offenders that meet certain criteria.
Stutes explained that he is a staunch believer in redemption. But, he wants to make sure the program is a pre-trial intervention program available to any first-time offender who meets the criteria, not just a certain privileged few.
On the flip side, however, Stutes promised he will lobby for harsher punishment and treatment of repeat offenders of crimes
“You may not agree, but I feel as parents, as citizens, as all of us in general, we have, in some way, failed our youth,” he said. “We have failed our youth when we preach something to our children and we do something differently.”