Keith Stutes meant what he said. The first-term district attorney for the 15th Judicial District in Lafayette filed suit Tuesday morning against Lafayette Consolidated Government in a bid to force LCG to fully fund his office. Stutes is also seeking an immediate stay order from District Judge Ed Rubin seeking to block the City-Parish Council from voting Tuesday night on an introductory ordinance that would amend the parish government’s budget and reduce LCG financial obligations to the Criminal Court fund, which funds operations at the Lafayette Parish Courthouse.
The suit, filed at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Parish Courthouse, names Mayor-President Joel Robideaux and the nine individual members of the council as defendants.
The introductory ordinance Stutes seeks to block with his request for an immediate stay order from Judge Rubin cites Stutes’ refusal to pay the reimbursements in slashing the Criminal Court Fund by $575,000 and the parish general fund by $106,000.
Get the background on the dispute via this week’s ABiz story, “D.A. Stutes threatens to sue LCG over funding.”