Episode 24 - Interview with Jimmy Manasseh

Dave and Drew interview 19th Judicial District Court judicial candidate Jimmy Manasseh,

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Welcome back, Savagate Podcast. Dave and Drew, episode number 23. Dave Ripolo, a writer at the Savicate. My name is Drew Burle, St. George, City Councilman, local attorney, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

SPEAKER_06 0:18

Episode 24. Says it right there on the sheet.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

Well, it says 23 right there in the sheet. On the top it says 24. Well, ChatGBT needs to proofread the sheet. Episode 24. It is episode 23.

SPEAKER_06 0:32

Actually, Mr. Brian Trasher would uh argue that it is 23 because you didn't upload.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

That's because I lost an episode. So and folklore Sadvocate folklore, episode 22 is actually the lost episode. When we put the DVD out at the end of the season, it's going to be the extra track. All right. So we got another great guest today, another candidate that's going to actually, you know, one of these things that I tell people all the time is judicial races get not as much attention as they deserve. Uh typically have worse voter turnout than most races, yet have the most direct impact on our daily lives. Extremely important. So we have candidate for judge Jimmy Manassa in studio today. Welcome to the show, Mr. Jimmy.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Thank you. I like the fact that I was called a great guest. That's uh it's an He says that about everybody's.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Well, he is an attorney who does a lot of business at the 19th JDC. One, don't let me down. Um, two, uh yes, that is all correct. Not that I want any favoritism. What's what I really want is an honest, I want like I want my judges to be like umpires. You know, I want to know what the strike zone is, and I just want to know what it is and be consistent. And as long as you do that, I'm gonna win.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

I am pathologically honest.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Even better.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

That's that's that's what I like.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

I heard it put like that before from an attorney.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Pathological defense.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

There's a difference.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

So true or false, uh, a friend of mine who did criminal defense once told me, uh, hey, you do some family law, and I said, Yeah. He goes, Whew, I'd never do that. I'm like, Oh, you do criminal defense. He goes, Yeah, my clients are honest.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

My clients are happy at the end of the day. They're happy at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_06 2:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

I I've done some family work in the past and I honestly just never enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_06 2:21

No kidding.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

But, you know, I I enjoy what I do. I'm not tired of what I do. I do a lot of personal injury as well. Uh, I've got a dozen lawyers who work for me, so we do a well-rounded practice. Uh, you know, probably have 1,200 open files at any one time. I probably represented with the firm. When I first started practicing law, I went to New Orleans and worked for a law firm there that did cases all over the state, all over the country, in fact. Uh, we had offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge Lafayette. We had an office in California, and we did stuff all over. And over the years, I've probably been in charge and and represented nearly 40,000 people over all these years.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Good lord.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

So we do a we're a busy practice.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

So and you got a wide range of knowledge, which makes uh the possibility of being a judge a good idea, because judges of the 19th JDC now can do civil and criminal at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Well, that's that's my understanding. That's what I think is gonna happen when we uh when you know, if I'm fortunate enough to be elected and take the bench, that's what I think is gonna happen uh starting this next year.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

And so you would take both criminal and civil?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yeah, that's my anticipation, yes.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

And I'm good with that. I've done both uh criminal and civil cases. Uh I've done mostly criminal, but but I've done a lot of civil business and and and I've been around a lot of courts. I've been a lot in front of a lot of judges. I think I've seen what good judges do, I've seen what judges that I didn't think were very good do. Um and so I hope to take those lessons and and you know hope to be the best judge that I can possibly be and be good for the community.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Nice. Why are you running for judge? So let's let's give you some background. Uh partner at a law firm, you run a law firm, own the building, prominent location, Jefferson Highway. Everybody sees it when you go to get your chicken salad at Calvin's. Um, why run for judge now?

SPEAKER_02 4:06

So I I think that we as lawyers, as professionals, we should give back. Um, and I see this as an opportunity to give back to my community. So when I became a I never intended on being a lawyer, never planned on this. It wasn't something I thought about as a kid, not growing up. My dad was in sports. My dad was Paul Manasseh, who was the sports information director at LSU. He used to be, he was the first PR director for the Denver Broncos. He was at Louisiana Tech when Terry Bradshaw was the quarterback. So when when I was a little kid, Terry Bradshaw taught me how to throw a spiral and Pete Meravich taught me how to shoot layups. So I grew up around athletics, and that's what I was gonna do. Um I went to UHI, LSU. When I finished college, I I wanted to, you know, I planned to go, I wanted to be an athletic director. I wanted to be um, you know, work in the NFL, work at ESPN, something of that nature. And so I decided I wanted to get an advanced degree. So I was fortunate. I had a scholarship, uh, so I went ahead and went to law school. Um and I'll tell you a little bit more about why I picked law school as opposed to a master's in a second. But I I went to law school, never really planned on practicing law. Um, had no idea what I was getting myself into, didn't know if I was gonna enjoy it or not, but I got in, uh, LSU was really hard at that time. They failed out like half the class. Uh first semester, they've got, you know, most of that class was gone.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

And that's what they wanted. That was their intent.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

That is exactly what they wanted. They wanted to make really good lawyers. They were they were like, we're the state university, most of the people here are gonna be practicing Louisiana. Louisiana is a little different than than other states, and so we want to make sure that we have really good high-end lawyers that are that are helping the the citizens here. Um and so I go to law school when I finish. I'm like, maybe I need to practice law for a little bit, see what it's like to be a lawyer. So I had an offer to work for uh a federal judge down in New Orleans, had an offer to work for the DA's office down in New Orleans, and then I got an offer to work for this prolific trial lawyer in New Orleans. He was in the Porter Center, it was a cool building. He was a really interesting guy. He'd already tried like 500 trials in his career, and I was like, I'll learn more working with this lawyer, doing a more varied practice, and I'll get more experiences doing different things, and that'll help me when I move on from to go do this other stuff. So the very first day I'm working for him, we're doing a murder trial in Orleans Parish. Uh two weeks later, we're doing a uh a trial in federal court with an offshore accident where somebody was crushed on an oil platform. Um and we won both of those cases, and and it was it was really interesting and it was fun and it was exciting, and it just kind of took off. And we started doing more and more cases. Um he had a little youth movement, he had a couple of young lawyers that came in and was working for him, and we just started doing more and more cases. We decided we had four clients up in Baton Rouge, and he said, Why don't we open an office here? My mom had just passed. My mom had cancer, and she was really um, she wanted to see me graduate from law school, and she fought and fought and fought. She had a lymphoma and fought and made it uh and lived like uh three weeks, passed away three weeks after I got sworn in. Um and so uh we wound up uh you know doing those cases. We opened an office in Baton Rouge. I was honest with my clients, I didn't promise them things I couldn't deliver. I I communicated with them, I saw them, I provided records for them. I was doing civil work at the time, I did some family work at the time, um, and it grew. And and you know, two clients turned into four, four turned into eight, eight turned into sixteen. And you know, my reputation, I've always felt like my reputation is the most important thing that I possess. And I really work hard and I tell young lawyers um it's really important that you guard your reputation. Um don't get a reputation for misleading people, for lying to people, for not being where you're supposed to be. You know, I get to my office at 7 30 in the morning because that's what my my boss taught me. You know, we got started at 7 30 in the morning, we didn't get finished until, you know, in New Orleans back in the day. Shoot, it was 6 37, 8 o'clock at night before you'd leave. But it was learning law through boot camp. Um and we were doing cases all over. I did, you know, cases up in New York and federal court in the Southern District of New York. I got to argue in front of the United States Supreme Court just two years out of law school. The Supreme Court actually had to give me special permission to be enrolled and to argue the case.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Would you be the only judge in the 19th JDC who's argued before the U.S. Supreme Court?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

I would think so. Yeah. I don't think anybody else has. I mean, there's just a handful of people around here that have. And we actually had a second case that went to the Supreme Court a couple years ago. Now, I let one of my uh younger partners handle it because he did the bulk of the work there. My my boss let me do the argument um back in the day, which I just thought was just the finest thing he could do. I mean, I'm just a kid and he'd been practicing for about the city.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Well, no, kidding, I I I would never have let you do that.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

No, of course not. Nobody would. Nobody would. But he was just a great guy, and he knew that I had done the heavy lifting and got the argument there. And it was actually the first day that Clarence Thomas sat on the bench. I got to argue that day.

SPEAKER_06 9:17

What then what was the case?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

It it was Fuchsia versus Louisiana. It dealt with uh uh somebody that was found not guilty by reason insanity, but had shown no signs of mental illness since he got to the facility. And at the time, the only way you could get released from a mental hospital at that point at the forensic facility is if you could prove you were not a danger. Your mental health capacity had nothing to do with it. So even though all the doctors said that he didn't have a mental health issue at this point, um he couldn't be released from a mental hospital. It's sort of like one flew over the cuckoo's nest, you know. Um and so we we made that argument and took it from the you know in New Orleans to the Court of Appeal, to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Then it went to the Supreme Court, they accepted it, allowed me to go and make the argument, and we won the argument so I can have a billboard that says, you know.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

That's right. So we can have this conversation right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Supreme Court believes me.

SPEAKER_04 10:12

I liked it. It's uh it's it's so fresh in your mind. You're just back like you're back arguing it all over again.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

It was a great experience. And I mean, how many young lawyers get to do that sort of thing? Uh but it was it was great, it was a lot of fun. But everybody asked me, were you scared? Were you weren't you just terrified being in front of the Supreme Court? I'm like, I was a kid, I was scared being in front of city court. Scared of everything at that time. So it was no different, but it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_06 10:36

That's cool. Definitely something to put on your uh resume.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

That's right. So uh you're gonna go from criminal defense to the judge. I guess somebody's gonna ask, is that how do you how do you do that? Are you gonna be sympathetic to the criminal?

SPEAKER_03 10:51

So I understand.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

Will you have a commercial with a criminal in a jumpsuit saying, I got Jimmy Manasseh, I'm out by noon.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

You know, he put my feet on the streets on a thing like a bell bondsman have. Um so I believe as a professional lawyer, um, I know what the differences are and the jobs and the tasks that we have in the court system. You know, I know what prosecutors are supposed to do, I know what defense counsel are supposed to do, I know what a judge is supposed to do. As a judge, I'm looking at safety, I'm looking at, you know, the constitutional rights, I'm looking at making sure things are fair, but I'm looking for the safety of the community. You know, that's the number one most important thing that a judge is supposed to do. Okay but being a professional, being somebody that understands those rules. You know, we've had some great judges. Um, you know, Tony Maribella was a defense counsel for a long time. Fred Crefassi on the bench, excuse me, Fred Crefassi on the bench right now, um, who's a great judge. Um Carson Markentel. Uh I can name, I can go on and name. There's plenty of people that have been defense counsel for most of their career. Um Sam DeQuil is the district attorney in East Feliciana. He was a public defender for for years up there. Nobody says he's soft on crime. You know, um I understand what the differences are. I think being in front of so many judges, so many courts for so many years, I know what those differences are and I respect it.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

Well, and some of that's going to give you perspective that somebody else may not have. You've been you'll have been on both sides. And so at that point, you'll know, hey, I know what you're doing, I know what's going on here. You'll have a better perspective because you have that well-rounded experience.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Well, I think I have a pretty good idea of the people that need to get harsh punishment dealt out to them. And I think the I understand the people that need some compassion and need to be looked at for a second chance. You know, everybody for years, everybody believes that, you know, everybody needs to be hard on crime, we need to lock people up, we need to throw people away, we need to do that. Except when it comes to it was my son or my friend's son or or somebody that I know. We they're different. They they they have a different, you know, they this is unusual for them. You know, I get that, I understand that. I understand why people feel that way. Um, and so I think I'll be able to put that in perspective, hopefully more than other people will.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Hard-hitting question. This is very important. Are you willing to change your name to Jimmy Manassa Johnson? I heard. I heard that's you would have an edge criteria.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Only if I marry into the family, I guess. I guess. That's a possibility as well.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

Always a but that can be arranged.

SPEAKER_06 13:27

That could I could get in trouble with my my uh Let me ask you, have you have you been keeping up with uh the way crime has been progressing in Baton Rouge? And do you feel like do you feel like some of these repeat offenders who were getting these, I don't know if you call it a second chance, but these easy releases, do you feel like if the if the court system tightened up a little bit on that, would that have an effect on crime? Can they even do that?

SPEAKER_02 13:53

So yes, I think that they can. And I do think that somebody's record, somebody what somebody has shown in the past, I think is something that a court needs to really seriously look at. I think that needs to be looked at from a bond situation. You know, I think we have, you know, the law is set up so that, you know, if you do something really, really bad just one time, that can cause you to lose your life. You know, that can cause you to lose your right to be out and in the be a citizen, be free, and that can cost you your your freedom. You know, just because somebody's been in trouble a second time doesn't necessarily automatically mean that they should be thrown away and and taken away from society. But I certainly think it's a factor that should be considered, particularly when somebody is first arrested. I think that that is something that absolutely should be looked at, should be considered. It shouldn't just be something that we look automatically, you know, two strikes and you're out from the standpoint of particularly if it's just an arrest. But I do think it's something that a judge needs to look at. Again, a judge is supposed to look out for safety, safety for the community, safety for the person too, because sometimes, you know, you get some young man who, you know, has a drug problem, and mama has bonded them out and bonds them out two and three times, and they keep getting into more problems with their drug addiction, and they keep getting arrested. Well, that makes it harder for the court to treat them and try to get them treatment. Um, you know, so I think that sometimes we're looking at for the you know, that individual's safety and what do we need to do to help that person try to get themselves straight.

SPEAKER_06 15:26

Right, right. And keep the community safe because you see these news articles, you know, eight, nine time repeat offender, whether they're convictions or not. But you know, we had the Baton Ridge police chief in here a few weeks back, and he was talking about if we could get a cramp on five percent of the population, we would wipe out 80 percent of the crime. It's the same guys over and over. And I feel like the court should look and go, this is your sixth chance. You're not you're not getting a bond. You're gonna stay in here till your court date, and that's gonna be it. That'll eliminate your chances of reoffending or hurting someone else. It should be that simple.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

And that's what I'm saying. I think that that is absolutely a factor that needs to be looked at. I think the chief has said that. I think previous chiefs have said that. Every killer has said that many, many, many, many times. I mean, he's he's on the rooftop shouting that out.

SPEAKER_06 16:12

Revolving door. Yeah. I think we even made a meme about a revolving door at EBRSO two years ago. Yeah. We did good. Solid, solid meme. Yeah. Before AI, we actually made that meme.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Oof. The good old days.

SPEAKER_06 16:26

Yeah, back when we're working.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

Um, so you you you're still going to court, you're still practicing. What changes would you like to see in our current court system that you think you can be a part of other than other than up in the level of the judges?

SPEAKER_02 16:43

In talking to folks just out there, um, I think people want cases to move faster.

SPEAKER_04 16:50

Oh, that's the truth.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Um, and I think that that's that's really important. Um, I had a case not too long ago, and I don't want to say who the judge is, but I had a case where I'm trying to get in touch with the judge to talk about an issue. And the judge happens to be gone this particular week to some sort of a conference. That's okay. I mean, judges have conferences to go to.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

Lots of them.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Lots of conferences. Um I'm look, I don't take vacations. I work. Um I'm in my office.

SPEAKER_06 17:17

You know, this is recorded, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:18

I understand. I don't really I don't take vacations. I had a dog that had a uh uh a neurological issue that he couldn't walk, and so we took care of my dog for four and a half years and literally pick him up and take him. I didn't take a vacation during that entire time. Um so but the the judge was gone to a conference, so I couldn't meet with the judge to talk about what was an important issue. Um and then the next week I go to talk to the judge. Well, it's a duty week, and I can't get in touch with the judge. Uh the judge isn't around. We have changed the duty weeks with the criminal matters where now you've got the commissioners that are handling bail, you got the commissioners that are signing the warrants, and I honestly I'm not positive what's what's going on. So my pledge is I'm gonna work. I've always worked. Like I said, I work early in the morning, I stay until the evening. I don't really I don't fish, I don't golf, I don't hunt, I don't I mean, I don't have a lot of hobbies. I guess sports, L Shoe is probably my my most important hobby. My dogs are my uh, you know, really most important hobby. Um but I plan on being at the courthouse, I plan on working, I plan on trying to push, you know, if there's cases that need to be tried, let's get trials done. Um, you know, one of the disappointments in in my practice for all these years is I love doing trial work. If I had my choice of being out on the golf course or doing a trial, I would rather do the trial. I enjoy it, it's fun, it's exciting, it's invigorating, it's it's interesting, you know, it's it's just it's the best thing I can think to do. But I don't get to do a whole lot of them. You know, part of it is because I think I've been successful, I think I've won a lot of trials when I was a young lawyer, and and I don't get as many. Um, you know, I think I had two trials last year um and won both of them. You know, the year before that, I think I had another couple, one was a civil trial, one was a criminal trial out in Los Angeles. Um we won both of those. And, you know, so I don't really get to try a lot of cases. And and I think that, you know, when I first started practicing in New Orleans back in those days, they tried in Orderleans Criminal District Court, they tried between five and six hundred trials a year. The judges down there, Judge Canazero, Judge Waldron, I remember one year, they're battling to see who could have the most trials at the end of the year between Christmas and New Year's, and Waldron had 154, and Canazero had a 153, and we had a client that had two cases, and we were trying to try both of them between Christmas and New Year's with Judge Canazero putting juries on both sides and doing them at the same time, and he thought it was a great idea because we'd be able to try two cases and he would win at the end of the year. And the DA kind of balked at if they wouldn't agree to do it. But they tried trying two cases.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

They try, you know, 20, 30, 40 cases a year. That's ridiculous. That is absolutely ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

And it's different the because of the way that they have a screening department, and there's talk about maybe you know how screening should be done differently. So there's a lot of talk about things that can be done to try to speed things up. And and trials aren't always the most efficient way to get cases handled and get cases moved through the system. But I think by being there on the bench, by you know, pushing the prosecutors to get the discovery. You've you've this person's been arrested, you've charged this person, get your police reports, get your discovery, get your video, get that to the defense so that the defense can start moving their case because they can't really do anything until they have their discovery. You know, what are they they they can't file a motion to suppress evidence, they can't do dispositive motions until they have their discovery. So get your discovery, get it to them, then push the defense to not do delays, let's have your motions, let's get the case ready for trial. And once it's ready for trial, let's see if there can be a resolution that can get done. And if it can't, let's get the case, let's do the trial. Move it. And if we need to try, if we if there's a way of trying to do more than one trial a week, let's try to do more than one trial a week. Again, they did it in New Orleans. I don't know why we can't do it in Baton Rush.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

Shouldn't have to wait two years. That's insane.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

No, and there's cases that are a lot older than that. Yeah. There's cases that are, you know, five and six years old that that need to be ready for trial.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

So it sounds like you're gonna be at court on time.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

I'm gonna be there in the morning and I'm gonna be there at the like you're gonna walk out at what time's court gonna start?

SPEAKER_04 21:39

This is an important question for me. So probably today.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Probably nine o'clock, because I think everybody is sort of uh used to that. And I think that that helps with the attorney schedules and things of that nature for to get there. If if if I wanted to take the bench at say eight thirty or eight fifteen, you know, would anybody really? Be there? Would we be sitting there, not really getting anything accomplished? Am I better off to get there myself early in the morning, be available for people to come and talk to me if we need to talk before court? But actually, when nine o'clock gets there, I want to take the bench and make sure because the citizens, people are there. People have to take off from work. They don't need to be sitting there all day. Man, there is nothing more frustrating than going to court, being there at nine o'clock, and sitting there and waiting and waiting and waiting. And I've got clients and I see other lawyers who are just sitting there. Think about the the the think about the money that people are spending on these lawyers to have them just sitting waiting for things to be done. And you got a judge that doesn't take the bench until 10 30, 11 o'clock. Um and I've been there have been times when you've sat there until after lunch before a judge takes the bench.

SPEAKER_06 22:47

That's absolutely ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

It's ridiculous. It's terrible.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

True story. I waited for a judge to take the bench after 11 o'clock one day. The judge was on the uh on hold with Walgreens for 45 minutes. I can understand that. But anything else, I mean traffic, whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Walgreens, according to the description.

SPEAKER_06 23:07

But that should be a crime to tear it in itself, sitting in court. Because you can't bring your mobile device now, you can't do anything. Yeah, we do that. Well, you sneak it in. No, we all can bring it in. We can bring it in.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Well, they let's let folks bring it in. It's got to be on silent for the most part. Most of the courts do.

SPEAKER_06 23:20

More than you know, not all of them.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Not on federal courts.

SPEAKER_06 23:23

But still, to your point, a lot of people taking off work, having to get babysitters, whatever, make arrangements. Absolutely no courtesy from the judge who does that.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

There's a lot of situations like that. Now, there's a lot that are very good and they're very prompt and they really will move things through. Yeah. Um, and and I would say most of them do, but there are those, and those are the ones that you remember.

SPEAKER_06 23:43

Oh, yeah, for sure. Especially at election time.

SPEAKER_04 23:46

I hope so. I mean, uh election turnout for judicial races is awful.

SPEAKER_06 23:50

When is the election this year? November. It's uh it's it's with okay, so it'd be a good turnout this year.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:55

That's good.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

That's good.

SPEAKER_06 23:57

How do people find you online if they want to donate to your cause or meet with you and talk about something?

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Jess. Um it's Do you have a Facebook page? Yeah, there's a Facebook page. Okay, Jimmy Manassah Facebook page.

SPEAKER_06 24:08

M-A-N-A-S-S-E-H Manassa? Correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Um there's not many of those around.

SPEAKER_06 24:14

No. I've first I've I mean, of course, I see your sign on Jefferson every day, and I put the two together, but I've never seen the name before.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Do people try to do do people want to force you to change your last name?

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Oh, there's a lot of there's a lot of there's a lot of mispronunciations, I can promise you. Manasseh.

SPEAKER_06 24:30

Are you from you're from Baton Rouge?

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Yeah, well, I was actually born in Colorado. Like I said, my dad was with the Broncos. My dad used to be in baseball, so my dad used to run baseball teams up in Monroe, the Monroe Sports, the Shreveport Sports. This is after World War II when he came back from World War II. He ran baseball teams. He worked at KWKH up in Shreveport. He was from Shreveport. Uh went to Dallas to run the old Dallas Rangers and then went to Denver to run the Denver Bears. And the Denver Bears, the owner was approached by somebody they wanted to start a third major league out west because you only have the Dodgers and the Giants out there. And so that fell through, but he then got approached by Lamar Hunt to become the original owner of the Denver Broncos.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

So my dad was with them, so he started working with the Broncos. I actually still have a pair of the vertical, uh, horizontal stripe striped socks that the Broncos wore initially because they had to buy their uniforms off of a college all-star team. Their uniforms didn't come in. And so they bought their uniforms and they had these horrible, hideous-looking brown and yellow uniforms and vertical striped socks. They looked like clowns, they played like clowns, they had a big bonfire and burned everything. My dad saved a handful of uh socks, and so we still have those.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

So as a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, we didn't work for the Cowboys. Okay, good. So you won't be biased against me like uh Judge Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

SPEAKER_06 25:51

People are gonna turn the show off if they hear the real life.

unknown 25:54

I know.

SPEAKER_06 25:54

I think you've mentioned it before. We didn't lose any of our six followers. No one was listening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

That was the early episodes, the lost, uh, the other lost episodes.

SPEAKER_06 26:02

Tell me, is this year the Dallas Cowboys year? Is this it?

SPEAKER_04 26:04

So is it a Scottish Cowboys fan? Every year is the year, and then the regular seasons go go great. I'm gonna go 12 and 5, and then we're gonna get to the first round of the playoffs and unexplainably lose a game for some odd reason, and then go, oh, and then we'll go, all right, next year's our year. As long as you're prepared for that. It's a cycle, uh, it's like a low self-esteem cycle that continuously repeats itself, at least since the ninth.

SPEAKER_06 26:26

And the team doesn't mind as long as y'all keep buying shirts and caps and believing.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Yeah, Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

It was a big deal when the Broncos played the Cowboys. Everybody wanted to interview my dad because he had worked for both of them. Oh, yeah. So he had interviews all over the country.

SPEAKER_06 26:41

Yeah, but I I believe that. So tell us, you said you're not a huge sports fan, but what do you think about what do you think about Lane Kiffin? How's he gonna do this year?

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I'm really excited about what's what's going on and and and what they're gonna do. So I'm still I'm I'm the PI uh the the interior PA announcer in the press box for the games, not the one that goes out to the stands, but I'm in the stats booth. So the press box entire stadium is actually named after my dad. It's the Palma Manassa Press Box. And so I have been the PA announcer in there since 1982. So I'm in the stats booth, and so I give all the official stats to the people in the press box. Um so I'm with uh we have a crew there that you know compiles the stats. We have a little computer system, but Kenny Fogg, former judge Kenny Fogg, he's our offensive guy. We've got other folks that have been there forever. So I've worked in the press box since 1977, and I've missed one game, one home game at LSU since 1969.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

So that's it. When you're elected judge, will you be keeping stats that you can really there's a judge in St. Tammany that does that? He c he comes out to the bench. I can't remember who it is. I've been on time 360 days this year, and uh and he will go through his stats and just let you know if you could do some stats for us, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

I'll I'll put a whole crew together so we can keep all that together.

SPEAKER_06 28:00

Yeah, you have to work with Dixon McMaken.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

He's in the booth next to me. Is he? He's in the booth right next to me.

SPEAKER_06 28:06

Sorry. Yeah, and you stay and so when whenever he got the job, you stayed on.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Yeah. Oh, I'm I'm there for the duration. I'm there until they tell me I I can't come back.

SPEAKER_06 28:15

That's how much he loves this job. Do they give that position to an attorney on purpose, or just so happens that an attorney has that position?

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Just so happens because I was not an attorney at the well, I guess. No, I wasn't an attorney at the time. I was still uh I was still in college at the time.

SPEAKER_04 28:27

No one voluntarily gives anything to an attorney.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

No, no. Well, uh they give uh difficulties, yeah. That's right, problems.

SPEAKER_06 28:34

So you think you think Coach uh Kiffin is gonna live up to the hype? You think this will be LSU's gonna do it this year?

SPEAKER_02 28:41

I really do. I think they're gonna be really good. Uh I don't know if they're gonna be as great as everybody's hoping first year out. No, of course not. But but I really do think they're gonna build, and I think they're gonna be really good. Uh I think he understands the you know the new landscape and and uh you know, I just I think that they've got everything in place. I think the administration, I think that they've put together, you know, a lot of the things that they need from a financial standpoint for the players, for the facilities, for all that.

SPEAKER_06 29:07

So I really do think that they're I hope so because we can't afford to hire another coach. No, it'll be a while. It'll be like Auburn if we get to that point where we're paying for a bunch of dudes who used to coach.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

I think Gene Chiswick still gets a check. Right, right. So um with that being said, uh, would you go back and be an athletic director now?

SPEAKER_02 29:26

No, way too, way too, way too late to start doing that. Uh uh years ago, about 20 years ago, I thought about taking sabbatical. Uh a friend of my dad's was actually the president of the Green Bay Packers. Uh and he had been he had actually been a reporter for the Picky Union down in New Orleans. He was a sports reporter. Uh, and he wrote a bunch of articles about the salary cap, and he actually understood the the salary cap more than the people at the NFL head office, and they actually reached out to him and hired him to come to New York to work in their office, and then he ultimately became the president of the Packers. And I really thought about leaving for a year to take a sabbatical to go up there and do to learn and to just be around and see if it was a a change of career I wanted to make. But honestly, I I I had so much time and interest invested in my office and the people in my office, and I was really concerned that if I if I left them, that it it would be detrimental to their lives and their futures, and so I didn't do it. Um I've I've had some people that have been with me, my law partner and I work together for 30 years. Um, and I've got a couple of secretaries that have been with me, staff people that have been with me for you know 20, 25, you know, years. Um and I'm very loyal to them and and you know, and I I worry about my office with making this change. It's really a major concern. I I have some melancholy feelings about it because you know I've put this office together, my people are are very important to me. I've got a lot of good lawyers and staff people that are really important. So we're working real hard to, you know, if this comes to fruition, you know, how do we, you know, keep things going so that they can maintain their office. Honestly, I think that maybe my leaving will give them a little bit more air uh so that they can build their practice and and they're really good lawyers and they'll do a great job and they'll be successful.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

So I'm not concerned about it from that standpoint, but well something you something you've had will say control over or directly invested in for that long a period of time. It it has to be a monumental decision to go, hey, I think I'm gonna walk away from this lifetime achievement and move on to something I've never done before.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

And it's a sacrifice. I mean, again, it's a financial sacrifice, and I'm I'm I'm okay with that. I'm in a position, I'm fortunate that I'm in a position I can do that. And I really do think it's important that as we get towards the latter part of our careers, that we we give back to our community, that we put you know the what we've learned um into being on the bench and and helping people, helping other lawyers, helping the citizens, just just you know, putting that to work for the for our community. And that's that's really why I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

Yeah, would you say this is a a legacy decision? You're trying to leave it better than you found it?

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Yeah, just to a great extent. Yeah, no, no, absolutely. Yeah. I want to leave I want to leave the the practice of law and my community better than what I found it. Yeah, absolutely. That's why I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_06 32:22

What are your thoughts on the whole discussion about the retirement age of judges? I think it was 75. Trying to raise it to 75. Trying to raise it. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

So they've tried to do this a couple of times over the last 15 years. I think Judge Marula out of New Orleans tried to get this passed. It was on the ballot, it did not pass. A few years ago, it got put back on the ballot. I think Janice Clark and Judge Higginbotham at the time, Tony Higginbotham tried to push it to get it passed. It didn't pass. I just I I don't anticipate it's gonna pass this time, uh, just from the the history of it. Um I, you know, personally I understand, you know, why you know the community and people can look at it and sit there and go, I don't want, you know, an 84-year-old judge sitting on the bench.

SPEAKER_04 33:07

Without a doubt. Is he sleeping?

SPEAKER_02 33:08

I can yeah, I mean, I understand it. But also know, you know, I had a trial out in Los Angeles where it was federal court, and you know, federal judges are there for as long as they want to be there. I had a judge that was appointed, you know, uh maybe by Nixon. Um but but he was an older, but man, he was a great judge. He was on top of it, he ran that courtroom. Um, I mean, the trial went like that. He was fantastic. And he was, I think, 84, 86 at the time.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

He didn't start with there were orange grows as far as the other.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

And we got up, we did the Pledge of Allegiance when we got up and we walked into court. That was the first thing that we did.

SPEAKER_04 33:45

And he's got a different version because under God didn't come until later in the pledge.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

But he was great. But there's a lot of good judges, and there's some judges, you know, uh Judge Myers, who's up there right now, he's gonna have to step down. He's been a one-term judge. I will be a one-term judge. I will turn 70 um like a couple of months before I could qualify for a second time. So I'm only doing this for this one term. Um But you know, I I think that it's important that that that we do this. And I've had a lot of talks with with other attorneys and with judges, people that I have a lot of respect for, um, and all of them think that this is the right decision for me.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

And and and and Brad Myers is a good example.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Great judge.

SPEAKER_04 34:26

Good judge. Good judge, smart guy, had no reason to do it other than he just wanted to be a judge.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

100%.

SPEAKER_06 34:34

You think you think Jeff Landry's gonna make you put the Ten Commandments up in your courtroom?

SPEAKER_02 34:38

If he does, I'll put him up.

SPEAKER_06 34:39

I think you'll do it. I think you'll do it. I think if I wrote an article about that, he would absolutely push for it.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

Let's put it to the test. So you're you're you're now you're bragging again. No, you're saying Governor Landry reads the Savagate. No, no, you don't think so?

SPEAKER_06 34:53

No. I know it's I know it's sent to him by someone and he likes it, but I don't know if he actually gets on it. I don't think he has time. Okay. This Greenland thing.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

You don't think he makes time for this?

SPEAKER_06 35:03

I don't think he does. We're gonna try to get we're gonna try to get him on the show, though. We have to bring the show to him, but we're gonna try to get him on the show.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

Green landry. Yeah, that's what we're calling it.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

We got some straight a hormot stuff coming up later today.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Hormut landry stuff. Okay, yeah. All right, well, that's good. Um so where do you go from here? How you got a campaign to run? What's next for you? Where are you gonna be?

SPEAKER_02 35:27

So really we're we're we're kind of waiting to this constitutional amendment because we have to figure that out before we can decide exactly what seat we're gonna be be seeking. Uh we think we have it, we we know what we're gonna do, but we we really have to wait for that. Once that's done, you know, we've had a a a fundraiser event, we've had a couple events, I've been in contact with lots of different folks, business people, uh, lawyers. Um, and then it's just a matter of getting out and starting to walk uh walk the streets and knocking on doors and introducing myself to people who might not know me. Um but it it's a little early to start doing that. But that's you know, I still have cases right now where we're kind of putting finishing touches on as well.

SPEAKER_06 36:08

So with this constitutional amendment, that will determine what district you're running or what's not gonna determine what district, but it will determine which seat I I seek.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Okay. Uh so again, right now there's four, I think four of the uh judges up there would age out if the constitutional amendment doesn't pass.

SPEAKER_06 36:25

And so you'll be campaigning the whole parish regardless.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 36:28

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Well, well, s the the the eastern part. Eastern part. So now, you know, the district, it used to be north-south, and and you know, kind of a district along the river. Now it's sort of an east and west.

SPEAKER_06 36:39

Okay, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 36:41

All right, so our side of town. Yeah. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

That's right. Very nice to see you, Daniel. St. George Central mostly. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 36:47

Um, what do your lawyer friends say to you when they found out you were gonna run for judge?

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Are you an idiot? What do you do with them? You know, and I'm worried about being on this podcast because I'm thinking is everybody gonna think this is satirical and I'm not really doing it. So that's right. I do have to be a little bit concerned about that. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 37:02

The podcast is real.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Yes, yes, yes. News is not real. Well, and so I I don't know where I fit in that. Um, but yeah, so most of uh again, everybody's been really encouraging and supportive. Um I've got some lawyers who I don't want to mention their names, but older, respected lawyers that I that I talk to and I spend a lot of time with that I'm really good friends with, and they really do say that. Say, I will support you 100%. You're exactly the kind of person that we want on the bench. I don't understand why in the hell you're doing this.

SPEAKER_04 37:31

But That's exactly what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

But exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

That's right. That that that's what my uh old lawyer friend said about you is the exact same thing. Exactly what we need, exactly the right direction, great for the parish.

SPEAKER_06 37:44

Isn't it true to some degree though that every attorney aspires to retire as a judge or at least make it and be a judge? You know the majority of them.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

I think I think a lot do, but I can there's a lot of people that that don't really want to do this. I mean, there's a lot of things about being a judge that can be very frustrating.

SPEAKER_06 38:02

Sure. Sure. Um Like lawyers.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Yeah, exactly. Lawyers not being prepared, lawyers not being ready to move forward. Um, I do think that that's one of the biggest complaints that I hear from from judges is is look not not necessarily the quality of the intellect of the lawyers, but just whether people are prepared when they come to court and ready to move forward. Um, you know, and I've always made that a real point with with the lawyers of work in my office is that you have to be prepared. You have to have met with your clients, talked with your clients, know what your issues are, you're you're going in there, and don't just go in there just just winging it.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

So you're saying you don't want to be a lawyer that stands up in court when your case is called and and meets your client for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 38:42

Or show up late. I'm not late.

SPEAKER_06 38:48

Right on time. If you m become a 19th JDC judge and Drew was to walk in late to your court, what are you doing? I'm just trying to the hypothetical.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Well but it's a it's a it's a hypothetical that just can't exist because that would never happen.

SPEAKER_04 39:04

That would never happen. One, if I was running late with some traffic accident or some issue in the society that get that prevents me from getting there on time, my office always calls opposing counsel and the court to notify them ahead of time.

SPEAKER_06 39:17

There's nobody here to call right now, though. Huh? Is anybody here? Is it like they already know? What are you doing? Would you put a warrant out? Would you hold him in contempt if he showed up with it? I'd like you a lot less.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

What I might do is hold him in contempt and allow you to come in and ask him.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

Will I be shackled? Hey, can I get an orange jumpsuit?

SPEAKER_02 39:37

I want to know if I can hold people in contempt for stuff that they did before I became judge. That's really what I want to know.

SPEAKER_04 39:42

That's right. I know I knew I got a few. I got a few of those. I got a couple of those. I know what you did. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 39:48

That might be why they're trying to talk you out of this. Yeah. Like he's gonna look up that case.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

That's the truth. Uh, what what about NIL deals for office staff to help increase their pay? You know, this law clerk is a star. We need to get him in here. Not a bad deal.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Not a bad deal. If we can find a way to raise money for him, I'm all for it. That's good.

SPEAKER_06 40:08

We asked um Justin this, and I'm gonna ask you.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

Justin Delante and other people. Don't play the two.

SPEAKER_06 40:15

Okay, never mind.

SPEAKER_04 40:16

Good. Sorry. Um said he had no hobbies. I assume that meant.

SPEAKER_06 40:19

Would you be opposed to the Savicate staff having VIP access to some good trials?

SPEAKER_02 40:24

No, I'll have a I'll have a place sitting right there for you with with uh my vote.

SPEAKER_06 40:28

My vote's I went to court one.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

You want front row or back row?

SPEAKER_06 40:31

As long as I'm there to where I can get the content firsthand, that's really all I can do.

SPEAKER_04 40:35

He can get you that special access to the holding cell.

SPEAKER_06 40:38

And I'm like Drew, I won't be late.

SPEAKER_04 40:40

I'll tell you, I went I went to court once and they in Lake Charles and they called me back in because the guy didn't appear. So I was five, you know, five-minute appearance and I'm leaving. Hey, uh, he's here. You want to come back? Yeah, of course I do. I'm not gonna drive all the way back. So I go back in there. Yeah, he's down there. Okay. All right, so I walk down there. It's the holding cell area of the Calcashu Parish Courthouse. Um, yeah, I'm like, that's really extreme because I'm not here for something that should be in a holding cell. I'm here for a judgment debtor rule. And the guy's like, yeah, but since then he got a charge with attempted murder, and he we picked him up today. So he's in this holding cell. We're gonna let you in there with him.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Like, he probably not very liquid.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

So they they put me inside. I'm realizing this is a fruitless endeavor right that moment. So I go in there with his mama, because his mama's there, she's bringing him some food. And so we go in there, and it's me, mama, and guy who's on gonna be on trial at some point for attempted murder. And the and they're like, hey, just knock on the door when you're done. And they walk off. And I'm looking at mom like I, you know, I'm gonna fill this out for him. I'm just gonna hold the pencil. I don't know if he can have that today. And we we did so so we can get the savvy, we can get Dave Rapolo access like that for sure.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Did he get out by knocking on the door too? No, they didn't release him, maybe he did not. That's a bond consideration we might want to make sure something.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

I told him I'm sure you didn't do it. Yeah, and I'm sure we could work out a payment arrangement once you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_05 42:04

In the cell with him? Yes. Wasn't that a scene from young Frankenstein? Didn't Gene Wilder go into a cell?

SPEAKER_04 42:10

I'm like, who thought this was a good? He's he's clear, you know, uh he's like, I don't I don't have any money. I was like, I assume you do not. I I assume we're good here.

SPEAKER_06 42:19

Um good story. Oh, yeah. But thank you for uh granting this advocate access to the courthouse. Do I gotta go through the metal detector? Or can I come in your entrance? Can I get a card?

SPEAKER_02 42:28

Me and Wade get a card to meet me downstairs, I'll put you in the car and we'll come in together.

SPEAKER_04 42:32

Just want the Wade Evans access pass.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Yeah, it's it's all access.

SPEAKER_04 42:36

Yeah, all access. Everything.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_04 42:42

All right, so uh next event on your docket. Where do you go next?

SPEAKER_02 42:46

We wait until we see what happens with the uh April amendment. The well the May amendment. May and then qualifying is at the uh the end of July. Okay and we'll see what happens there, and then we move on forward with the campaign.

SPEAKER_06 42:59

That's very exciting. And again, Facebook page, Jimmy Manasseh for Judge or Yeah. How is Manassa? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

Manasseh for Judge. That's it.

SPEAKER_06 43:08

M-A-N-A-S-S-E-H.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Correct. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 43:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Yeah, there's a big ass right in the middle. You can't forever forget it.

SPEAKER_04 43:15

Big ass in the middle. Now you know.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

That's great. You will never forget it now. That is fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

It's way better than uh spelling it phonetically.

unknown 43:28

All right.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

Well, thank you, Jimmy. Thank you so much for coming in. We're looking forward to the campaign. Uh, it's like I said, it's always good to have qualified candidates for judge. Yes. Uh it's always good to have people who have a passion for doing it. Uh they're not just looking for a paycheck or a handout or a job. Um I I'll say it. I'm glad your last name's not Johnson. So we have some variety in the courthouse. Not that I don't like the gentle the judges, but you know, you'd like to have people, the whole jud judicial staff can't be related. Right. And so it's nice to have some variety.

SPEAKER_06 43:58

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

So I appreciate it. Y'all having me. Uh, when I found out I was gonna do this, I started listening to your uh podcast, and I've lost up all of them, and I've really enjoyed them much more than I was even anticipating. Wait till you hear the last episode.

SPEAKER_06 44:12

It's what do you think about the one with Brian Tresher from the United Cajun? Oh, lost or sorry about that, Drew.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

When I finish, I'll start looking around here and see if I can find it. It's probably over there. It's probably back here somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 44:25

Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks for coming out. And we'll hopefully do it again uh before you're judge, because once you're judged, we we're not gonna have you on anymore. My honor. And if you want to email us, where do you do that at?

SPEAKER_06 44:35

Podcast at thesadvocate.com.

SPEAKER_04 44:38

Uh you can download it, uh, subscribe to it, like it, review it, all those things would really help us out. Uh anywhere podcast are found, thank you. This has been the Sadvocate Podcast.