(Excerpt from The Advocate)
Judge Mike Caldwell has handled an almost exclusive civil caseload for all but one of his nearly 18 years on the 19th Judicial District Court bench, a time-honored custom that Baton Rouge trial lawyer Randy Piedrahita wants to change if he’s able to unseat Caldwell in this fall’s election.
Piedrahita takes Caldwell to task for his handling of a long-running criminal case involving former LSU, McNeese State and Miami Dolphins running back Cecil “The Diesel” Collins.
Collins, who was accused of forcing his way into the apartments of two women who lived in a Nicholson Drive complex and fondling them in 1998, pleaded guilty in April 1999 to two felony counts of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and two misdemeanor counts of simple battery.
Caldwell gave Collins a suspended five-year prison term and put him on probation for four years.
While on probation, Collins sneaked into his neighbors’ apartment in Miami in December 1999. He was convicted in 2001 of burglary in that case and served more than 13 years in a Florida prison.
After his May 2013 release from prison, Collins was transferred to Baton Rouge and taken into custody for possible revocation of his Louisiana probation. The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office pushed for Caldwell to revoke Collins’ probation and send him back to prison, but the judge earlier this year put Collins on probation for an extra three years for violating that probation.
Piedrahita called Caldwell’s actions “offensive.”
“That is the kind of stuff as a judge I’m going to pound,” he said.
PIEDRAHITA HAS BEEN ENDORSEED BY THE LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE ORGANIZATIONS. THE GOP AND THE TEA PARTY. HE HAS ALSO BEEN ENDORSED BY SHERIFF SID GAUTREAUX AND CORONER BEAU CLARKE.
CALDWELL HAS RECEIVED ZERO ENDORSEMENTS TO DATE.
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