Scott Crichton (judge)

Scott Jackson Crichton (born June 1, 1954)^[1] is a Republican member of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He was a judge of the Louisiana 1st Judicial District Court in Shreveport from 1991 to 2014. Crichton was elected to the court in 1990 as a Democrat. In 2014, he ran without opposition^[2] to succeed the retiring Justice Jeffrey P. Victory for the District 2 seat on the seven-member state Supreme Court. The nonpartisan blanket primary for the position was held on November 4, 2014 in eleven northwest Louisiana parishes.

Background

Crichton (pronounced CRA TON) is the son of Thomas Crichton, III (1917−1989), who though born in Monroe was a businessman-landholder descended from a pioneer family in Minden in Webster Parish east of Shreveport.^[3] His mother, the former Mary Murff (1919−1983), was a native of Shreveport; her grandfather was a district court judge in 1906. Crichton himself was born in Shreveport but attended school for the first eight years in Minden. For high school, he was sent to the private boarding school, the Webb School in Bell Buckle in Bedford County near Shelbyville in middle Tennessee. The school then had an enrollment of only two hundred but with a demanding curriculum, honor code, and required obstacle courses including the development of survival skills.^[4]

After graduation from the Webb School, Crichton attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, from which he received his undergraduate degree in 1976. In 1980, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the Louisiana State University Law Center. He and his wife, the former Susan "Susie" Simonton (born November 23, 1957), whom he married c. 1986, have two sons, Stuart Jackson Crichton (a 2013 LSU Law school graduate) and Sam Crichton (a 2014 LSU Law school graduate).^[5] Since 1985, the judge has been a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Shreveport.^[6]

Legal career

From 1981 until 1990, Judge Crichton was a Caddo Parish assistant district attorney under the DA Paul Carmouche, in which capacity he prosecuted felonies, including capital murder. From 1985 to 1990, he also maintained a civil law practice. On December 8, 1990, Crichton defeated another Democrat, Charles C. Grubb, for the Division C seat on the 1st District Court, 11,053 (55.6 percent) to 8,844 (44.5 percent). The position was vacated by the retiring Democrat C. J. Bolin.^[7] Crichton was unopposed for subsequent six-year terms on the district court in 1996, 2002, and 2008. As a district judge, Crichton has handled more than 25,000 criminal and civil cases. He is a former instructor at the Shreveport Police Academy. From 2011 to 2012, he was the president of the Louisiana District Judges Association. He is a former board member of the YMCA and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.^[6]

Justice Victory had been expected to seek a third ten-year term on the Louisiana Supreme Court, but Victory, who is eight years Crichton's senior, announced in August 2013 his retirement from the bench, effective December 31, 2014.^[8] Because Judge Crichton will have turned sixty by the time of the 2014 election, he can seek only one term on the Supreme Court because Louisiana state law forbids a lawyer aged seventy or above from qualifying for a judicial position.^[9]

Judge Crichton is known for his conservative rulings and avoidance of judicial activism. Outside the courtroom, he works with elementary and high school students with his “Don’t Let This Be You” program, which focuses upon such subjects as drinking and driving, sexting, and recently personal defense.^[9]

More than 500 people attended Crichton's campaign kickoff party on April 29, 2013, at Ernest's Orleans Restaurant in Shreveport. Among those in attendance were fellow judges and law enforcement officials from around the state.^[10] Had he drawn an opponent, Crichton's campaign was to have been co-managed by his wife Susie and Carolyn Prator, the wife of Crichton's friend, Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator.^[9]

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