Inside the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Removal of Baton Rouge Judge Eboni Johnson Rose

A state judge in Baton Rouge appears so incompetent at her job, showing bias or committing legal error in numerous criminal cases, that she can’t be trusted to remain on the bench during a formal probe into her alleged misconduct, the Louisiana Judiciary Commission said recently.

The Louisiana Supreme Court agreed this week, removing 19th Judicial District Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from her elected post on an interim basis, with pay, saying she “presents a substantial threat of serious harm to the public.”

Eboni Johnson Rose

Among her alleged transgressions, Rose accused District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office of “systemically targeting Black men” as she pushed prosecutors to drop charges in a case this spring, the commission claimed.

“The young man doesn’t have any fricking felonies. And I know that the DA probably wants every young Black man in prison, but I don’t,” Rose said during an April 29 sidebar.

“And this case is god damn four years old now. And that’s the best that y’all can come up with? You’re just going to what, stick every n*****r in jail?”

Rose, who is Black, won the seat in 2020 and is now running for a spot on the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

It was among several cases over which the commission is investigating Rose based on complaints and media reports, according to the newly released records. In urging the Louisiana Supreme Court to bench Rose, the commission acknowledged the request was drastic.

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Even so, the commission was “deeply concerned that Judge Rose’s succession of clear legal errors in criminal cases, as well as her wholly inappropriate use of a contemptible racial slur in court … mean that Judge Rose may pose a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or the administration of justice if she remains in office.”

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“In another case, it was alleged and reported that after a jury found a criminal defendant not guilty, Judge Rose met with the jury and then changed the verdict to guilty, which led to the granting of a mistrial and this Honorable Court having to reverse the mistrial and reinstate the not guilty verdict,” the commission wrote.

In a third case, Rose allegedly imposed an unlawful sentence against a defendant charged with aggravated arson, then vacated it along with the guilty plea.

“Finally, a media article reported that in a fourth criminal case, Judge Rose initially convicted a defendant of a non-existent misdemeanor offense and, after it was brought to her attention that the verdict was invalid, rendered an acquittal,” the commission wrote.

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