Scott Crichton (judge)

Scott Jackson Crichton (born June 1, 1954)[1] is a justice 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 district 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.

Scott Jackson Crichton
Associate Justice (Place 2) of the Louisiana Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2015
Preceded by	Jeffrey P. Victory
Judge of the Louisiana 1st Judicial District Court, Division C, in Shreveport, Louisiana
In office January 1, 1991 – December 31, 2014
Preceded by	C. J. Bolin
Succeeded by	Charles G. Tutt
Personal details
Born	June 1, 1954 Shreveport, Caddo Parish Louisiana, U.S.
Political party	Democrat-turned-Republican
Spouse(s)	Susan "Susie" Simonton Crichton (married c. 1986)
Children	Stuart Jackson Crichton Sam Crichton
Parents	Tom and Mary Murff Crichton
Residence	Shreveport, Louisiana
Education	Webb School
Alma mater	Louisiana State University Louisiana State University Law Center

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

More than five hundred 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.[7] 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.[8]

In 2017, Crichton ruled that a prisoner who was being interrogated by police for the crime of raping a child did not request a lawyer, because the prisoner used a slang term.[9][10][11][12]

References

1. "Scott Crichton, June 1954". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
2. Sarah Crawford (August 23, 2014). "Candidates qualify for November election". Beauregard Daily News, DeRidder, Louisiana. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
3. "Crichton rites are Wednesday", Minden Press-Herald, December 5, 1989, p. 1
4. "About Judge Scott Crichton". judgescottcrichton.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
5. http://www1.law.lsu.edu/news/
6. "Judge Scott Crichton". scottforjustice.com. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
7. "Judge Scott Crichton campaign update". scottforjustice.com. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
8. Adam Duvernay, "Caddo District Judge Scott Crichton wants to be Justice Crichton", Shreveport Times, May 1, 2013
9. "The suspect told police ‘give me a lawyer dog.’ The court says he wasn’t asking for a lawyer."
10. "Suspect Asks For A ‘Lawyer, Dog,’ Willfully Ignorant Court Denies Comma, Counsel"
11. "Orleans rape suspect's 'lawyer dog' request lacking, state Supreme Court finds"
12. "A defendant asked the police to 'get me a lawyer, dog,' and was ignored. A judge ruled he could have wanted a litigious canine."