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Oct. 14, 2026

Local Leaders: The Candidates #4 | Jasper Brock - 21st JDC Judge Division E

Local Leaders: The Candidates #4 | Jasper Brock - 21st JDC Judge Division E
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Season 1

In this episode Jim Chapman sits down with Jasper Brock, candidate for district court judge in Division E of the 21st Judicial District. Jasper discusses his life experience including his time in the Navy, his vast legal career and how he feels this experience of over 34 years has prepared him to lead the 21st JDC’s Division E as a Judge. Jasper also discusses why he chose to run, and gives his unique insight on what he feels he could fix in the judicial system should he be elected as Judge.

You can learn more about Jasper Brock by visiting:
https://www.facebook.com/brockforjudge

Timestamps:
05:01 From Navy to Law
09:12 Family and Louisiana Roots
10:53 Why Run for Judge
12:53 Tackling Court Backlogs
17:38 What Voters Ask Most
19:54 Qualities of a Fair Judge
21:35 Fixing Court Transparency
25:33 Appeals and Delays
28:13 Why Experience Matters
30:38 Vote Early, Speak Up

WEBVTT

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Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Local Leaders. And we are

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doing an addition. This is another follow up to our candidates.

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I guess I could call it meet the candidates special.

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And today we do have another candidate on the show.

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He is a candidate for 21st Judicial Judge in Division E.

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And his name is Jasper Brock. So welcome to the show, Jasper.

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Thank you, Jim.

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We've done this a couple of times in the past.

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He's an old pro now when it comes to podcasting,

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I think.

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I have. I've enjoyed it. I've been here for local

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leaders and a couple of times on– Real life, real crime.

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Yep, yep. Some very interesting episodes. So today you are

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here to talk about your candidacy for the 21st Judicial

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Judge in Division E. And we want to start off

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and give people who may not know you, may not

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be aware of you yet, a little bit about your history.

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And that always starts with where you were born and raised.

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So let's talk about that a little bit.

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Okay, I have an interesting thing of where I was

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born and where I was raised. I was actually born

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in Bari, Italy.

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Oh, wow. Okay.

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I was born– my father was serving in the military

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in Europe, and that's where I was born. Lived there

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until I was two.

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Okay.

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Then we came back here. He got out of the military.

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We lived, I think, near New Orleans until I was

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about six, and then Baton Rouge until I was, I

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don't know, maybe– early thirties. And then I moved to

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Denham Springs.

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Okay. And in between that time, you had what I

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would call an exciting, interesting life. You started out the

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normal way. You went to high school. Right.

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I went to high school, university high in Baton Rouge.

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Went to Northwestern up in Natchitoches for school and I

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was an immature, stupid kid. When I got to school,

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I spent more time at the fraternity parties than I

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did in the classroom. And they did not invite me

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back for the next year. And so I went home

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and I was raised by a pretty stern mother. And

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she said, what are you doing here? I said, well,

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you know, not invited back at school. And she goes, well,

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I'm not supporting you. You're not living here. I said, well,

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where am I supposed to go? And she goes, well,

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the military is looking for people. So that's where I went.

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That's where you went. What branch did you join?

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So I joined the Navy and spent four years on

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two aircraft carriers. I circled the globe.

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Yeah. USS Independence, one of those carriers.

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Independence and the Lexington.

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Okay. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Two historic carriers.

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I was on the Independence when they had the hostages

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and I ran and because we were there doing support,

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I got an expeditionary medal. And throughout this campaign, I

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never knew that I was eligible to be a member

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of the veterans of foreign wars, but I went and

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spoke to the Hammond chapter, you know, as part of

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this campaign. Yeah. And, uh, They asked me what I did,

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where I went, and I told them. And they said, well,

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you're eligible to be a VFW member. So I'm now

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a VFW member.

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Wonderful. Wonderful. And let me ask you this about those

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four years. Did it grow you up?

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Absolutely.

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Gave you a lot of structure? It did. Yeah.

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Discipline, hard work, attention to detail, all those things I

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didn't have. I believe it's something... I think at least

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two years of service to your country should be mandatory.

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It doesn't have to be military. It can be Peace Corps.

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It can be, you know, something to do with the environment.

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It could be maybe, you know, helping out in schools

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or even daycares. But just something that teaches you, you

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got to get up every morning. You got to do

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what you're told to do. You got to be where

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you're supposed to be. And nobody cares whether you want

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to do it or you don't want to do it.

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You do what you have to do.

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That's right. That's right, and it sure grew you up

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because you got back home after serving, and what did

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you do from there?

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I got out of the Navy on a Thursday, and

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I started LSU on Monday. Finished LSU in four years,

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and then I went on to law school and graduated

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from law school at Tulane.

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No more fraternity parties?

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Didn't pick the fraternity back up my second time around.

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And you said you went to Tulane for law school. Look,

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y'all know what that means. That means that Jasper is

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very smart, and Tulane is no joke for law school.

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Tough university, right?

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I mean, I don't know if I could say tough.

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It was tough. I certainly didn't graduate top of the class,

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but it wasn't easy.

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Sure.

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You know, I don't think it makes it any more special.

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You get a good education. Every education is what you

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put into it.

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Yeah, that's right. That's a good way to put that.

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And so you get out of law school and it's

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time to start life. Tell me about that. What did

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you do first?

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My first job out of law school was working for

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the attorney general's office as an assistant attorney general. When

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I first started there, they had me working on the

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champion insurance case. We were prosecuting the owners of the largest, uh,

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low cost insurance company in Louisiana. Yeah.

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I remember they had.

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Gone under and stolen millions of people and not paid

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millions in claims. And that was my first job, but

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that was a one-time thing. And then I got moved

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over to, uh, a general lab. Well, first medical malpractice

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defense where we defended state hospitals back then we had charity,

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you got Lolly Kemp, you know, hood. Um, Did that

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for a little while, and then they moved me to

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general liability where I defended all kinds of civil cases

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for the state. And I had a case against a

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lawyer out here. He said, how much money are you

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making over there? I said, not a lot. And he said, well,

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come out here and work with me and you'll make

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more money. And so I came to Denham Springs in 1992,

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I think it was, and I've been here ever since.

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Yeah. Started your own practice or started working for him first?

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Started working there first and opened my own practice probably 15,

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20 years ago.

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Okay. And you did work with the 21st Judicial even

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with your practice, didn't you?

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Right. I've been in private practice on my own, what

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we call eat what you kill. So you don't make

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money unless you make your own money, get your own clients,

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win your own cases, or you don't eat.

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Right. But then.

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They asked me to be what's called a conflict attorney

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for the public defender's office. And what that means is

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if two people are arrested for the same crime, they

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can't have the same lawyer.

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Okay.

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So the public defender will take one and then they'll

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conflict out the other one. So I've done conflict work

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and that's, You're not an employee of the public defender's office.

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You just have a contract to handle cases for them,

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and I've done that for 20 years.

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And those are just assigned.

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I've resigned from that, but I did it for 20 years.

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I got you. And those were assigned cases.

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Oh, yeah. You didn't get to choose.

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Pick and choose like you can in private practice.

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No, you didn't get to choose, and somehow I got

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the reputation that I could handle the worst of the worst.

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So for the last 20 years, I've gotten the worst

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of the worst. Yeah. I've gotten some of the most

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hope high profile, most heinous criminal cases. And even when

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I didn't get those, I've got the ones where they,

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people couldn't get along with the, with the defendant. I

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had at least four cases where, you know, I got

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the case because they fired two or three lawyers before.

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Really? Wow. That's interesting. And you know, one thing it

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says about you is, is, you know, public, defenders or

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people in your position who are assigned these cases, you're

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defending the law and the constitutional rights more than anything else, right?

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It is.

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People say all the time, and when I ran for

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this thing, we were talking about what negative are they

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going to say about me? Well, I said, well, they

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may come out and say, well, he represents criminals. And

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they said, how are you going to answer that? I said, well,

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the way I answer that is I've taken two oaths

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to the constitution of my life. The first one I

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joined the military, and the second when I became an attorney.

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The first one was to defend the Constitution. The second

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one was to uphold it. And if you look at

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the Bill of Rights, you know, four of the ten

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amendments have to do with criminal law, search and seizure,

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fair trial, speedy trial, right to remain. So all that

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stuff is in the Bill of Rights. So my job

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is to defend the Constitution.

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Yeah. And you've obviously done a good job of that.

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And so– Year-wise, you're over 30 years in the law,

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if you will. Yes. A lot of experience. A lot

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of experience in different areas is what I'm hearing from

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you as you kind of walk me through your experience.

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And with all of that, you know, one thing that's

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very important is the support of family, right? Right. Tell

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us a little bit about your family. Okay.

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Won the lottery there.

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Outkicked your coverage, huh? I know the feeling.

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Way beyond outkicked my coverage. My wife is incredible. Besides

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being gorgeous, she's just a dynamo, the hardest worker in

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this campaign, as you can imagine, and an incredible mother.

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She was a pre-K teacher when we first got married,

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and then she gave that up to sell– real estate

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and she's done that for about 15 years. But she,

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I guess from her training as a pre-K teacher, she

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was just the perfect mother. We've raised two daughters here

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in Denham Springs, all Denham Springs schools, Lewis Vincent, Southside,

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Denham High. And they're living proof that if you put

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the work into your education and you can get the

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best education in Livingston Parish Schools.

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100% agree.

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My oldest daughter is an engineer at SpaceX over in Florida.

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Yep.

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And my second daughter in nine months will be a doctor.

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She's in her last year of medical school. And they're

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both products of Livingston Parish Schools.

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Yeah, yeah. And I attest to that myself. Same situation.

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I got two daughters about to graduate from LSU. My

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son graduated and is actually getting a second degree currently.

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From LSU, so all educated through public school systems. So

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we're blessed to have our public school system and both

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of us the support of our families, for sure. Why

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do you want to run for judge, Jasper?

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I want to run for judge because I looked at

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this race and I saw nothing against my opponent. She's

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a very nice lady. I think she's very bright. I

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I haven't spent any time with her in court because

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I don't think she spent much time in court.

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Yeah.

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And that's what I saw. I saw a person that

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was unopposed. That's why I got in on the last

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day of the race.

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Yeah.

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I said, this young lady's unopposed. I don't think she's

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ever stood in front of a jury.

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Yeah.

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I've stood in front of 50 of them, at least,

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you know.

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Which is actually a lot for, you know, 50 juries

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or thereabouts, you don't see that anymore.

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No, I would venture to say if I'm not the

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most experienced trial attorney in the 21st Judicial District, I'm

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in the top three.

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Yeah, yeah. And so you jumped in there and you

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thought that... I.

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Just wanted to give the people a choice of somebody

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who's had a lot of experience. I've seen what happens

237
00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:03.110
when a judge... is not experienced. And I've seen what

238
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happened when a DA is not experienced and you can

239
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go to court. And as somebody who goes to court

240
00:12:08.870 --> 00:12:11.250
literally three or four days a week for the last

241
00:12:11.250 --> 00:12:15.389
30 years, you can walk in and tell experienced judges

242
00:12:15.429 --> 00:12:20.690
and DAs, their dockets move. Generally the outcomes are pretty

243
00:12:21.429 --> 00:12:24.509
consistent and fair. And the ones that aren't, their dockets

244
00:12:24.570 --> 00:12:28.080
are clogged and their outcomes are all over the place.

245
00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:31.039
Yeah. And that, That kind of leads me into my

246
00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:34.299
next question, which is, at least for me, some of

247
00:12:34.340 --> 00:12:38.210
the concerns I hear from the, not only 21st Judicial,

248
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but this is court system-wide throughout the country, is the backlog.

249
00:12:42.649 --> 00:12:46.029
It takes so long. If you're a victim in a case,

250
00:12:46.429 --> 00:12:49.649
it takes so long to get justice. If you're a

251
00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:53.879
defendant who's wrongfully accused, it takes so long to get justice.

252
00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:58.600
On that respect, what are your thoughts on backlogs and

253
00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:02.279
how would you Do your part. Should you be elected

254
00:13:02.379 --> 00:13:03.600
to clean that up?

255
00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:08.970
Well, backlogs can, can, can occur for multiple reasons. Sometimes

256
00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:12.570
they're legitimate. Like they can't get the evidence or the

257
00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:17.110
crime lab is backed up. Sometimes like I was recently

258
00:13:17.169 --> 00:13:20.029
appointed a case. Like I was talking about earlier, this

259
00:13:20.090 --> 00:13:25.700
guy had 500 and something counts of child pornography. And

260
00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:30.360
he first, you know, he, he, fired his first attorney,

261
00:13:31.139 --> 00:13:35.220
then he filed a bar complaint on his second attorney,

262
00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:41.289
then he claimed he was mentally ill, and the doctors agreed,

263
00:13:41.350 --> 00:13:44.669
and they said he's incompetent, so they spent a year

264
00:13:45.090 --> 00:13:48.129
restoring his competency, I guess with medication, he went to

265
00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:51.990
the mental hospital, and then they had to appoint another attorney,

266
00:13:52.049 --> 00:13:54.549
finally I got it, and by that time it was

267
00:13:54.610 --> 00:13:57.350
four and a half, five years old, and we just

268
00:13:57.450 --> 00:14:00.049
wrapped it up at A couple months ago.

269
00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:01.129
Yeah.

270
00:14:01.389 --> 00:14:03.159
It ended up being six and a half years.

271
00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:04.539
Yeah. Yeah.

272
00:14:04.740 --> 00:14:07.259
But none of that was any of the prior lawyer's fault.

273
00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:10.580
When they file a complaint against their lawyer, that lawyer has,

274
00:14:11.019 --> 00:14:13.360
you know, he's conflicted. He has to get out. Or

275
00:14:13.379 --> 00:14:16.950
they fire their lawyer. Now, we've had other ones where

276
00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:21.929
it's just evidence issues or sometimes it's police issues. I

277
00:14:21.950 --> 00:14:26.470
had one, three preliminary exams, a police officer never showed up.

278
00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:27.129
Right.

279
00:14:27.509 --> 00:14:32.450
And you still can't move forward. You're entitled to certain motions.

280
00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:34.240
And if the cop doesn't show up for the motions,

281
00:14:34.409 --> 00:14:35.539
then it's got to get continued.

282
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.139
That's right. That's right. And I've seen cases like that.

283
00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:43.360
I've seen cases where it was a preparation issue with

284
00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:45.460
an attorney. One way or the other, they should have

285
00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:48.990
been prepared. They were not. And then they request that continuance.

286
00:14:49.009 --> 00:14:52.559
I have seen judges say no. You've had plenty of time.

287
00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.480
We're moving on with this case. Yeah.

288
00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:56.559
And that's, that's a difference in some judges. And then

289
00:14:56.580 --> 00:15:01.730
we also have issues like where, you know, a lot

290
00:15:01.750 --> 00:15:04.769
of times the DA and the defense attorney can come

291
00:15:04.809 --> 00:15:08.029
to an agreement and most, almost every judge will, if

292
00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:10.389
you have, if they come to an agreement, they'll rubber

293
00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:13.090
stamp that and say, yeah, we'll go with that. Some

294
00:15:13.129 --> 00:15:16.899
judges don't want to do that. And some judges will say, well,

295
00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.299
I'm going to do whatever only the DA says.

296
00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:20.080
Yeah.

297
00:15:20.179 --> 00:15:22.919
Well then the, defense attorneys are like, well, I don't

298
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:26.120
think that's a fair whatever. That's why I always admired

299
00:15:27.250 --> 00:15:29.870
Judge Morrison, who we had here for years and years

300
00:15:29.889 --> 00:15:33.590
and retired. When he got to those situations, we have

301
00:15:33.610 --> 00:15:36.450
what's called a pretrial conference. Generally, when you go to

302
00:15:36.490 --> 00:15:40.820
court for a pretrial conference, it's a 30-second discussion. You know,

303
00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:43.179
we either have an agreement or we don't set it

304
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:45.899
for trial, don't set it for trial. When Judge Morrison,

305
00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:50.230
what's the issue? Well, This prosecutor says, I think he

306
00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:52.429
should do 10 years, and the defense attorney is like,

307
00:15:52.529 --> 00:15:55.509
I think he should do two years. He would take

308
00:15:55.570 --> 00:15:57.549
an hour or two hours and go, all right, everybody

309
00:15:57.590 --> 00:16:00.250
that's in that situation, we're going to come in my

310
00:16:00.309 --> 00:16:02.990
office here on the little side office from the bench,

311
00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:05.490
and you all tell me why you think he should

312
00:16:05.509 --> 00:16:07.450
get 10. You tell me why you think he should

313
00:16:07.490 --> 00:16:10.039
get two, what the facts are, and then I'll tell

314
00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:12.080
you what I think he should get, and then we

315
00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:13.120
could get rid of those cases.

316
00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:18.460
Yeah. Wow. That's a great way to do that. Yeah. And,

317
00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:23.490
you know, from your perspective, you're stepping into this and

318
00:16:23.629 --> 00:16:27.309
should you be elected, that will be, I think, a

319
00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:30.940
role in which your experience would play a major part.

320
00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:34.929
you would know if someone is delaying for the sake

321
00:16:34.970 --> 00:16:37.710
of delaying or your experience would dictate that.

322
00:16:37.909 --> 00:16:39.110
I would think so. I would hope so.

323
00:16:39.450 --> 00:16:41.389
I would think so as well. And I think that's

324
00:16:41.509 --> 00:16:45.370
where experience in courtrooms and trials plays a key role

325
00:16:46.049 --> 00:16:48.600
is you can, you've been on the other side of

326
00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:50.960
that in a trial setting before.

327
00:16:51.059 --> 00:16:54.039
And I've seen plenty of defendants, you know, try to

328
00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:56.740
play that game like, oh, I'm going to fire my lawyer.

329
00:16:57.559 --> 00:16:59.159
You know, trial's going to be next week. I'm going

330
00:16:59.179 --> 00:17:02.159
to fire my lawyer. You know, so that way it's

331
00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:03.559
going to buy me another six months.

332
00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:03.980
Yeah.

333
00:17:04.420 --> 00:17:06.369
And then some judges are like, well, you can fire him,

334
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:08.390
but then you're going to have to represent yourself because

335
00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:09.759
we're not delaying it.

336
00:17:09.990 --> 00:17:16.170
Right. Yeah. And, you know, this particular judgeship, it covers

337
00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:19.309
three parishes, large area. Yeah.

338
00:17:20.130 --> 00:17:21.349
You learn that putting up signs.

339
00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:23.789
That's exactly what I was going to say. That's a

340
00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:26.849
lot of door knocking. That's a lot of putting up signs.

341
00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:29.490
And you have been, I've seen, I've followed your Facebook

342
00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:33.170
and you've done a great job of getting out there

343
00:17:33.289 --> 00:17:35.769
and letting people know who you are. And I would

344
00:17:35.809 --> 00:17:37.990
imagine you've talked to a lot of people through your

345
00:17:38.009 --> 00:17:41.089
meet and greets. What are some concerns that people have

346
00:17:41.190 --> 00:17:43.730
out there and things that you could help?

347
00:17:44.529 --> 00:17:48.759
Um, I think their biggest concerns is backlogs. Most of

348
00:17:48.779 --> 00:17:52.119
them don't even understand. And it's a good thing that

349
00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:54.640
most people don't understand what goes on in a courtroom.

350
00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:55.079
Right.

351
00:17:56.220 --> 00:17:58.819
You know, we say that all the time. When I'm

352
00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:01.920
in the courtroom, you know, I have other lawyers going, well,

353
00:18:02.089 --> 00:18:03.950
you know, everybody knows who you are. You're going to win.

354
00:18:03.970 --> 00:18:06.009
I'm like, the general public doesn't know what goes on

355
00:18:06.049 --> 00:18:06.650
in a courtroom.

356
00:18:06.829 --> 00:18:07.109
Right.

357
00:18:07.450 --> 00:18:10.930
They have no idea what happens in this place. So

358
00:18:11.569 --> 00:18:13.970
it's not that it's not, oh, you've done this for decades.

359
00:18:13.970 --> 00:18:18.829
30 years, you've had 100 trials. Your opponent hasn't. You're

360
00:18:18.849 --> 00:18:22.809
the shoo-in. I'm not because the general public doesn't understand

361
00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:26.210
what goes on in the courtroom. And, you know, when

362
00:18:26.470 --> 00:18:28.119
I go to these meet and greets, they ask me

363
00:18:28.170 --> 00:18:33.839
questions about Donald Trump or, you know, stuff that all

364
00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:36.039
these things that I'm not going to deal with before

365
00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:38.799
I ran. That's not going to come before me.

366
00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:39.039
No.

367
00:18:39.430 --> 00:18:41.950
You know, Second Amendment rights. I'm not going to deal

368
00:18:41.970 --> 00:18:46.420
with whether or not you're a felon. Yeah, maybe. But

369
00:18:46.740 --> 00:18:48.779
whether or not, you know, some guy who's never done

370
00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:50.660
anything can get a gun or not get a gun

371
00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:52.920
or whether they're going to ban ARs or whatever. That

372
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:54.279
has nothing to do with it.

373
00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:59.490
Better question for your congressman. Yeah, different race. There's no

374
00:18:59.509 --> 00:19:03.450
doubt about it. And you're right. And that's something that

375
00:19:03.549 --> 00:19:06.339
shows like this. They kind of help to educate. And

376
00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.640
let people know exactly what you're going to do in

377
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:13.000
your specific job. Now, Division E, as I said, that's

378
00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:16.960
in three parishes, large division. Are you going to be

379
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:20.319
based at one courthouse, or do you go to several

380
00:19:20.339 --> 00:19:20.880
different ones?

381
00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:23.059
The schedule is set at the beginning of the year.

382
00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:23.440
Yeah.

383
00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:26.339
And the schedule is set. You know what week you're

384
00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:31.880
in what parish. I think each judge has an office

385
00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:37.009
in Livingston and an office in Ameet. There's only one

386
00:19:37.089 --> 00:19:39.819
office in Greensburg, and it's just whoever's there that day.

387
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:40.380
Right.

388
00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:43.440
So you don't really have a base. Most of them,

389
00:19:43.480 --> 00:19:46.400
their secretary follows them. If they're in a meet one week,

390
00:19:46.430 --> 00:19:48.750
then their secretary follows them to a meet. If they're

391
00:19:48.769 --> 00:19:52.049
in Livingston, their secretary follows them. follows them to Livingston.

392
00:19:52.069 --> 00:19:54.299
There's not really a base, no.

393
00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:58.140
I got you. And let me ask you this. You've

394
00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:02.980
been a attorney for over 30 years. When you walk

395
00:20:03.019 --> 00:20:07.309
into a courtroom, what What do you see in a

396
00:20:07.369 --> 00:20:10.809
judge that tells you this is a good, fair judge?

397
00:20:12.430 --> 00:20:16.539
I think the main things, do they treat everyone with respect?

398
00:20:16.950 --> 00:20:17.150
Yeah.

399
00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:22.059
Do they take every case seriously? I've seen judges who

400
00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:25.839
are just condescending and rude and whatever. Then I've seen

401
00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:29.380
judges who, even when they sentence somebody to 10 years

402
00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:33.269
in prison, they're like, look, You know, this doesn't define you.

403
00:20:34.089 --> 00:20:37.049
There's still a future after this. You can do things

404
00:20:37.130 --> 00:20:39.640
while you're in jail to better your life. You can

405
00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:43.900
turn your life around. And that's a huge difference. And

406
00:20:43.940 --> 00:20:46.079
then there's other ones that are like, you know, you're worthless.

407
00:20:46.539 --> 00:20:47.299
You go to jail.

408
00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:48.299
Goodbye.

409
00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:51.049
And laugh about it, you know. Yeah. I think you

410
00:20:51.069 --> 00:20:54.130
have to treat everyone with respect and understand that every

411
00:20:54.230 --> 00:20:57.490
case that comes before you. So that person standing there

412
00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:00.259
at that podium today. that you're deciding whether it's a

413
00:21:00.420 --> 00:21:02.460
criminal case or whether it's a civil case, if it's

414
00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:05.880
a car wreck, you know, or whether you're suing because,

415
00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:10.210
you know, the 10-year-old used car, you got the transmission

416
00:21:10.250 --> 00:21:13.509
fell out the next day. That's your only mode of transportation.

417
00:21:13.710 --> 00:21:16.789
Every case, when that person's standing there, that's the most

418
00:21:16.849 --> 00:21:19.170
important case in the world to them, and you need

419
00:21:19.190 --> 00:21:19.990
to treat it that way.

420
00:21:20.430 --> 00:21:24.230
Yeah, I agree with that 100%. I think that, and

421
00:21:24.269 --> 00:21:27.420
that is something that you can miss sight of, And

422
00:21:27.460 --> 00:21:31.619
that is something where, again, experience plays a huge factor

423
00:21:31.660 --> 00:21:34.130
and a huge role in that. That's something that you

424
00:21:34.230 --> 00:21:38.630
clearly have with all your time doing so many different things.

425
00:21:39.170 --> 00:21:43.589
What would be something right off the bat that you

426
00:21:43.630 --> 00:21:49.940
would change aside from speeding up the process? And it's

427
00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:53.299
not necessarily limited to that division, but something maybe in

428
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:56.160
the system that As a judge that you would change.

429
00:21:56.180 --> 00:21:58.539
Well, doing criminal law, one thing that's in the system

430
00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:02.140
that I've always hated that Livingston Parish does, and it's more,

431
00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:04.440
I think, from the sheriff's department than it is from

432
00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:08.980
the judge's office. But the law says whenever you arrest somebody,

433
00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:13.779
you have to fill out what's called a probable cause affidavit,

434
00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:17.539
which is basically one or two paragraphs. This is the

435
00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:21.819
reason why I arrested this individual. This is what he did,

436
00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:24.230
or this is the evidence that I have. It's not

437
00:22:24.250 --> 00:22:27.440
a full, detailed report. It's not names of the witnesses.

438
00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:30.720
It's just the basic two or three paragraphs. This is

439
00:22:30.759 --> 00:22:31.279
what happened.

440
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:31.680
Sure.

441
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:34.599
The law says that's a public record.

442
00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:35.140
Yeah.

443
00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:40.089
For some reason, in Livingston Parish, the sheriff wants you

444
00:22:40.130 --> 00:22:44.880
to make a public records request to get that. In

445
00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.589
Baton Rouge, as soon as they're arrested, that report, that

446
00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:51.750
probable cause sheet goes up to the sixth floor at

447
00:22:51.789 --> 00:22:54.950
the courthouse, and any lawyer can go pay $ 2. So

448
00:22:55.710 --> 00:22:59.430
when people hire you, you go, all right, let me

449
00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:01.529
see what the police are saying. Well, if I allow

450
00:23:01.769 --> 00:23:04.890
public records request, that's going to take two weeks for

451
00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:07.490
me to find out. I mean, I think it should

452
00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:09.420
be done the way it is in Baton Rouge where

453
00:23:09.819 --> 00:23:12.880
it's immediately available. Yeah, if you want to charge $ 2

454
00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:15.279
for the copy, fine. But that way, if I need

455
00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:17.460
to go talk to a judge about the bond or

456
00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:22.069
I want to be even intelligently speaking to my client

457
00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:25.849
and his family about what happened, I need that two

458
00:23:25.890 --> 00:23:27.470
paragraph of what happened.

459
00:23:27.750 --> 00:23:31.099
Right. You know? You got to know what happened before

460
00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:32.180
you can talk to someone about it.

461
00:23:32.180 --> 00:23:33.359
Because a lot of times he's in jail and he

462
00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:36.759
can't talk and then they can't. You don't want your

463
00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:39.500
client in a criminal case to talk to his family

464
00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:41.720
about what happened on the jail phone because it's recorded.

465
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:42.119
Sure.

466
00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:46.869
So that's an important piece of paper that should be available.

467
00:23:47.230 --> 00:23:50.869
And I think when the judge uses that or he's

468
00:23:50.890 --> 00:23:53.650
supposed to use that, some of them just look at

469
00:23:53.670 --> 00:23:56.880
the charge and say this is the bond. I mean,

470
00:23:56.900 --> 00:23:58.640
the way it's supposed to work is you're supposed to

471
00:23:58.700 --> 00:24:01.099
read the probable cause sheet and set the bond based

472
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.099
on that. We have preset bonds in Livingston for most charges.

473
00:24:04.539 --> 00:24:06.579
And I don't have a problem with that. But I

474
00:24:06.619 --> 00:24:09.980
still think the judge should read the probable cause sheet

475
00:24:10.769 --> 00:24:13.690
Because if there's five people in the car and they

476
00:24:13.750 --> 00:24:16.809
all get charged with the same thing, let's say possession

477
00:24:16.829 --> 00:24:21.990
with intent marijuana because somebody had, you know, half a

478
00:24:22.029 --> 00:24:25.009
pound of marijuana in a bag. Well, if one guy

479
00:24:25.049 --> 00:24:27.970
says it's my bag and they arrest all five of

480
00:24:27.990 --> 00:24:31.289
them in the car and the probable cause sheet says,

481
00:24:32.069 --> 00:24:33.970
you know, it was in Joe's bag.

482
00:24:34.230 --> 00:24:34.450
Yeah.

483
00:24:34.900 --> 00:24:37.400
Then that should be available to the lawyer for the

484
00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:40.720
other four. So, hey, judge, will you lower the bond?

485
00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:43.460
It was in Joe's bag and this is Jim, you know?

486
00:24:43.660 --> 00:24:47.519
Yeah. And I would agree with that, especially in the

487
00:24:47.579 --> 00:24:51.799
respect of you want consistency across the court system. Now,

488
00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:56.549
let me ask you this. A judge is, in my view,

489
00:24:57.259 --> 00:25:00.599
director of that courtroom. So you have a defense attorney,

490
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:03.930
you have a prosecutor, the judge sits in the middle,

491
00:25:04.049 --> 00:25:08.789
and he is ensuring that everything is being followed. Another

492
00:25:08.809 --> 00:25:11.720
thing that you really need to be experienced in a

493
00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:16.579
courtroom type setting to be able to ascertain that you've

494
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.640
said that you walked in courtrooms where inexperienced judges, you know,

495
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.140
they just, they haven't sat on the bench very long.

496
00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.660
I don't, maybe they weren't a lawyer very long before

497
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.700
they got that judgeship and mistakes can be made and

498
00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.400
they have oversight. Judges have an appeals court, right? Let's

499
00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:34.980
talk about that a little bit. What happens in a

500
00:25:35.019 --> 00:25:38.759
case where a judge does make a mistake and it's

501
00:25:39.019 --> 00:25:41.160
found in an appeals court to be like a cause

502
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:41.740
of action?

503
00:25:42.069 --> 00:25:45.789
Well, I mean, it happens all the time, but it's,

504
00:25:46.309 --> 00:25:49.119
in a criminal case, it's, You know, if you're in jail,

505
00:25:49.140 --> 00:25:53.140
then the court of appeals takes nine months, maybe a

506
00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.880
year for you to get that appeal heard and decided.

507
00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:01.319
You're sitting in jail that whole time. Or, you know,

508
00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:04.539
in a civil case, it's not quite as bad because

509
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.700
you don't have to pay the money if it's under appeal.

510
00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:10.380
But in a criminal case, you're sitting there while that

511
00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:14.160
decision's being made. And just, I don't think that's, I

512
00:26:15.819 --> 00:26:18.640
understand you, you can't let them out because that's, that's

513
00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:21.059
what's happening. That's the way it should be. But I

514
00:26:21.099 --> 00:26:24.339
think that's, that's an issue is how long it takes

515
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.900
for an appeal. And sometimes people don't have money for

516
00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:29.029
an appeal. You got to pay a lawyer to write

517
00:26:29.069 --> 00:26:29.549
an appeal.

518
00:26:29.750 --> 00:26:30.029
Yeah.

519
00:26:30.490 --> 00:26:33.549
I remember years ago, I had a case one time and,

520
00:26:33.670 --> 00:26:36.569
and it says something bothers me about talking about judges

521
00:26:36.609 --> 00:26:39.039
and good judges and judges that are not so good.

522
00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:43.359
I had a case and it was in Greensburg and

523
00:26:43.380 --> 00:26:45.660
I had a motion to suppress. I thought the, the,

524
00:26:46.220 --> 00:26:52.430
Evidence was illegally obtained. And I lost that motion. And

525
00:26:52.450 --> 00:26:56.809
we had the crawfish boil, the 21st JDC usually has

526
00:26:56.849 --> 00:26:59.819
a crawfish boil every year. The crawfish boil happened to

527
00:26:59.859 --> 00:27:03.380
be that afternoon. And just so happened the judge that

528
00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:06.960
ruled against me that morning sat next to me at

529
00:27:06.980 --> 00:27:10.829
the crawfish boil. And he, you know, he elbows me

530
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:12.789
over and he goes, man, you need to appeal that

531
00:27:13.150 --> 00:27:15.890
thing you should have won. I mean, what do you

532
00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:18.730
mean I should have won? You were the judge. He goes, well,

533
00:27:18.769 --> 00:27:21.529
I couldn't go on the record, you know, throwing out

534
00:27:21.569 --> 00:27:23.849
the evidence, but you definitely need to appeal it. I said,

535
00:27:23.990 --> 00:27:26.730
you know, my client may not have $ 2, 000 to pay

536
00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:27.349
for an appeal.

537
00:27:27.650 --> 00:27:32.329
Right. Yeah. That's a good point. Wow. And those are

538
00:27:32.410 --> 00:27:35.740
big deals. And it could go both ways. Jasper, it

539
00:27:35.799 --> 00:27:38.259
could be a situation where a judge doesn't have the

540
00:27:38.339 --> 00:27:44.099
experience or makes a bad judgment call in a person

541
00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:48.869
that's guilty. they get an appeal based off of that

542
00:27:48.910 --> 00:27:50.559
and you have to retry the whole case.

543
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:51.130
Oh, yeah.

544
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:53.039
Happens all the time, right?

545
00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:54.599
Yes, it does. Yeah.

546
00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:58.920
And so if anybody asked me as a citizen, as

547
00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:01.380
a voting citizen, what do you look for when you

548
00:28:01.460 --> 00:28:04.660
vote for a judge? Experiences on the top of that list.

549
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:09.309
As much experience in a courtroom as humanly possible.

550
00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:12.750
And if you've never done it before, I don't know

551
00:28:12.789 --> 00:28:15.900
how you... oversee other people doing it.

552
00:28:16.369 --> 00:28:20.910
Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, big decision. And before we get

553
00:28:20.950 --> 00:28:22.190
out of here, I want to ask you, do you

554
00:28:22.250 --> 00:28:23.410
have any final thoughts?

555
00:28:24.450 --> 00:28:28.450
I don't, but like we were just talking about, I think, um,

556
00:28:29.069 --> 00:28:32.109
I have a little story of my life that I

557
00:28:32.130 --> 00:28:34.339
think sums up this judge's race.

558
00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:34.799
Yeah.

559
00:28:35.490 --> 00:28:38.880
You know, when, when I was a kid, my father, um,

560
00:28:39.420 --> 00:28:43.759
he had his pilot's license and, uh, You know, we

561
00:28:43.799 --> 00:28:46.420
weren't wealthy or anything. He just, I think he'd gotten

562
00:28:46.460 --> 00:28:48.440
it through the GI Bill. You know, they paid for

563
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:49.619
stuff like that back then.

564
00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:50.059
Sure.

565
00:28:50.579 --> 00:28:52.900
And he got his pilot's license and he could fly

566
00:28:52.940 --> 00:28:56.369
like a little Cessna and not often, maybe once a

567
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.930
month or whatever. If it was a nice weekend day,

568
00:28:59.009 --> 00:29:02.650
he'd go pay for two hours for a Cessna. And

569
00:29:02.670 --> 00:29:05.049
he'd take me and we'd fly around and, you know,

570
00:29:05.089 --> 00:29:08.089
fly over Tiger Stadium, fly over our house, you know, whatever.

571
00:29:08.569 --> 00:29:10.470
We'd come back and land. And, you know, when I

572
00:29:10.509 --> 00:29:14.099
was this 10-year-old kid or 8-year-old kid, I was like, Wow.

573
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:15.240
Oh, that was mind blowing.

574
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:18.339
You know, my dad's a pilot. He's got a license.

575
00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:21.160
He can fly a plane. He is a pilot.

576
00:29:21.380 --> 00:29:21.680
Yeah.

577
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:27.809
And then later on, his nephew, my cousin, he fell

578
00:29:27.849 --> 00:29:29.990
in love with flying and he started flying when he

579
00:29:30.009 --> 00:29:33.470
was 15 or 16. And he's now an American Airlines captain.

580
00:29:33.769 --> 00:29:36.869
He flies an Airbus. He's got 200 people sitting behind him.

581
00:29:37.170 --> 00:29:37.430
Yeah.

582
00:29:37.910 --> 00:29:40.380
And he flies on sunny days like that too. but

583
00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:44.059
he flies four days a week. He flies when it's raining.

584
00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:47.900
He flies when it's snowing. He flies when there's extreme turbulence.

585
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:51.960
He flies when there's people on strike. And 200 people

586
00:29:52.019 --> 00:29:56.150
are counting on his judgment and his experience for their safety,

587
00:29:56.410 --> 00:29:58.430
for their lives.

588
00:29:58.529 --> 00:29:58.970
That's right.

589
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:01.029
Because people don't want to get on that plane with

590
00:30:01.069 --> 00:30:04.130
somebody that just 16 year old who just got his

591
00:30:04.150 --> 00:30:08.430
pilot's license. They want an experienced, trusted guy flying that plane.

592
00:30:09.150 --> 00:30:13.829
And are they both pilots? Absolutely. Are they the same?

593
00:30:14.589 --> 00:30:18.589
Not even close. And I think that sums up whatever.

594
00:30:18.730 --> 00:30:22.279
You know, we are both lawyers. We have both gone

595
00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:26.339
to law school. We have both handled cases. I've handled cases.

596
00:30:26.940 --> 00:30:29.920
thousands more and i've been in a courtroom three or

597
00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:32.809
four days a week and i've navigated every kind of

598
00:30:32.849 --> 00:30:36.210
legal storm there is yeah and i think that's what

599
00:30:36.250 --> 00:30:38.130
the difference is and that's what sums up the.

600
00:30:38.069 --> 00:30:42.150
Race yeah and uh speaking of that race it is

601
00:30:42.289 --> 00:30:47.109
coming up october 20th uh through the 27th is early

602
00:30:47.170 --> 00:30:50.700
voting and i would certainly encourage everyone to early vote

603
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:55.140
uh the Actual election day is on a Tuesday, November

604
00:30:55.490 --> 00:30:59.089
3rd this year. So they're expecting a lower than normal

605
00:30:59.170 --> 00:31:02.170
turnout on election day because that's a work day, right?

606
00:31:02.190 --> 00:31:06.069
Who wants to go vote after work day? Well, go

607
00:31:06.109 --> 00:31:09.809
vote before work day. Vote during early voting. No line.

608
00:31:09.950 --> 00:31:11.869
You're going to get in and out of there. But look,

609
00:31:12.630 --> 00:31:15.740
a lot of people died, and I know it's cliche,

610
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:17.660
but a lot of people died for your right to vote.

611
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:21.460
And your voice being heard is important. No matter who

612
00:31:21.509 --> 00:31:25.089
you're voting for, regardless of any of that, make sure

613
00:31:25.109 --> 00:31:29.029
you get your voice heard. And, uh, that's, that's really

614
00:31:29.130 --> 00:31:32.049
what it's all about in this country. And, and, uh,

615
00:31:32.450 --> 00:31:35.730
I got a, possibly a future judge sitting across from

616
00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:37.960
me and I'm sure he would concur with that completely.

617
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:42.819
Absolutely. Uh, that's why I served in the military. I remember,

618
00:31:42.900 --> 00:31:46.700
you know, there was legal issues and constitutional issues when

619
00:31:46.740 --> 00:31:49.079
I was there. And I remember, uh, You know, a

620
00:31:49.140 --> 00:31:51.519
chief telling us, look, that's not our job.

621
00:31:51.900 --> 00:31:52.180
Yeah.

622
00:31:52.660 --> 00:31:54.619
Our job is just to do what we're told. We're not,

623
00:31:54.839 --> 00:31:58.180
you know, we don't decide what the policy is. We

624
00:31:58.220 --> 00:32:00.279
just go where we're told and do what we're told

625
00:32:00.299 --> 00:32:04.119
to do because, you know, people can say whatever they want.

626
00:32:04.220 --> 00:32:06.329
Your job is to defend their right to say it.

627
00:32:06.819 --> 00:32:09.809
Oh, I like that. Very true. And I want to

628
00:32:09.849 --> 00:32:12.349
thank you for coming on and letting people know a

629
00:32:12.390 --> 00:32:16.769
little bit more about you and your desire to be

630
00:32:16.809 --> 00:32:21.289
the judge for the 21st Judicial and Division E Jasper.

631
00:32:22.789 --> 00:32:25.279
And for everybody else that's listening, I want to say

632
00:32:25.380 --> 00:32:28.839
thank you so much. Please share this podcast with anyone

633
00:32:28.859 --> 00:32:32.220
that you think could benefit from learning more about Jasper Brock.

634
00:32:32.660 --> 00:32:36.900
And until next time, for Local Leaders of Podcast, I'm

635
00:32:36.940 --> 00:32:38.660
Jim Chapman. Much love.