Contact: Dortha Cummins
Dortha.Cummins@la.gov
Aug. 20, 2018 - The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission announced today that
retired Judge Marion F. Edwards has been named Louisiana's first State Judicial Outreach Liaison. Louisiana now joins fourteen other states in employing a State Judicial Outreach Liaison. Judge Edwards began his position on August 13, 2018.
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Judge Edwards
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"We are very fortunate to have such an impressive individual as our state's first Judicial Outreach Liaison," said Lisa Freeman, Executive Director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. "Judge Edwards is widely known and greatly respected by the judiciary. As our first State Judicial Outreach Liaison, he will help design a program from which we expect to reap benefits for years to come."
The State Judicial Outreach Liaison is a specialized judge whose role is to provide education, training, and technical assistance on traffic-related matters to judges and court personnel throughout the state. The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission recently provided funding to the Louisiana Judicial College for the purpose of procuring a State Judicial Outreach Liaison.
Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson also reflected on Judge Edwards' selection, saying, "Today, as part of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration program, Louisiana joins other states that have implemented a Judicial Outreach Liaison program to help make our roadways safer. I am pleased that we have selected Judge Marion Edwards for this role of educating the judiciary in the area of impaired driving and highway safety. I have known and respected Judge Edwards for years, and he commands the respect of his many colleagues for his pioneering work with drug courts. He is an exceptional choice to lay the groundwork for a program that we hope will have long-term impact in our state."
Judge Edwards brings many years of judicial experience to the position of State Judicial Outreach Liaison. Prior to becoming a judge, he worked as an assistant district attorney for the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District, where he served as first assistant for over 22 years. He was first elected to the bench in 1997 in the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court. In 1998, Judge Edwards was elected to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, where he served as Chief Judge from 2010 until his retirement in 2012. Since his retirement, Judge Edwards has been selected by the Louisiana Supreme Court to fill numerous pro tempore and ad hoc positions across the state.
"Judge Edwards' expertise will further our highway safety mission to reduce traffic crashes and the resulting deaths, injuries and property damage," Freeman added. "We are very excited to have him on board."
