Jury convicts ex-Orleans judge Yolanda King for lying about where she lived
It took five tries for Yolanda King to finally win a judgeship, and less than an hour for a jury to find she had lied to get it.
King, who won a surprise runoff victory in May 2013 for a seat on the bench in New Orleans Juvenile Court, was convicted Tuesday of filing false public records and violating the state election code. A jury of three women and three men found that King’s claim to a New Orleans domicile on a sworn candidate statement in February 2013 was bogus, convinced by evidence that for years she claimed a homestead exemption at a house she bought in 2006 in Slidell.
King, 58, is believed to be the first in the state to face criminal prosecution for what is a common allegation against political hopefuls: Fudging a home address to get around the state constitution, which says judges must have been domiciled in the parish or district where they serve for at least a year prior to an election.
King sat silently at the defense table after ad hoc Judge Michael Kirby read the verdict in an Orleans Parish courtroom. She faces a maximum five-year prison sentence on the false public records charge, and two years maximum on the second count.
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