[StBernard] Qualifying for open judge post in St. Bernard Parish begins Wednesday

[Westley Annis]

Qualifying for open judge post in St. Bernard Parish begins Wednesday
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
February 02, 2010, 9:45AM
Qualifying opens tomorrow in St. Bernard Parish for the open Div. C
judgeship on the 34th Judicial District Court. 

Candidates can sign up at the Clerk of Court's office at the Parish
Courthouse, 1101 W. St. Bernard Highway, Chalmette, Wednesday and Thursday
from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Qualifying ends Friday.

The election is March 27.

The judgeship opened when Wayne Cresap resigned the post last October after
pleading guilty in federal court to a bribery scam in which inmates were
allowed to get out of jail without paying bonds. Cresap also permanently
resigned from the practice of law.

The Louisiana Supreme Court appointed retired state Appeals Court Judge
Robert Klees to serve in place of Cresap until a new judge is elected to
fill the unexpired portion of Cresap's term. Cresap was in the second year
of a six-year term.

Sentencing for Cresap and two St. Bernard Parish lawyers who pleaded guilty
along with him, Victor "V.J.'' Dauterive and Nunzio Salvador "Sal''
Cusimano, is scheduled for April 22.

Also on the March 27 ballot in St. Bernard Parish are two tax renewal
propositions for the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office. Proposition No. 1,
a half-cent sales tax, and Proposition No. 2, a 5-mill property tax, are
both dedicated to salaries and benefits for law enforcement personnel. Both
taxes would be for 10 years.