- Louisiana Judge Michelle Odinet resigned on Friday after backlash to a video appearing to show her using a racial slur.
- In the video, a woman’s voice can be heard saying the N-word twice and comparing a Black suspect on camera to a roach.
- Odinet is “humiliated, embarrassed, and sorry for what she has done,” her lawyer told Insider.
A Louisiana judge has resigned from her post after appearing in a video to use racial slurs while watching a Black suspect attempt a burglary over surveillance video.
Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet resigned on Friday, according to ABC affiliate KATC News.
A video that appears to show security footage from Odinet’s home emerged on social media in mid-December. In the video, people are laughing and giggling as they watch surveillance footage of a burglary attempt.
An unidentified voice can be heard saying the N-word twice. Then a woman responds and also says the N-word twice. “Like a roach,” she says as she laughs.
Odinet said her “mental state was fragile” following the alleged burglary, Insider’s DeArbea Walker previously reported.
“I was given a sedative at the time of the video,” Odinet claimed. “I have zero recollection of the video and the disturbing language used during it.”
“Anyone who knows me and my husband knows this is contrary to the way we live our lives,” she continued. “I am deeply sorry and ask for your forgiveness and understanding as my family and I deal with the emotional aftermath of this armed burglary.”
The video has led to outcry from a slew of local politicians and civil-rights groups.
The city’s mayor-president said he was “disgusted and appalled” after watching the video, and the Lafayette Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has called on Odinet to resign.
After the backlash — and ahead of her decision to resign — Odinet originally said she planned to take an unpaid leave of absence.
Odinet is “humiliated, embarrassed, and sorry for what she has done and the trouble that she has caused to her community,” Odinet’s lawyer, Dane Ciolino, told Insider.
Insider’s DeArbea Walker contributed to this report.
