NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) — Suspended Slidell attorney and former Orleans Parish Juvenile Court judge Yolanda Julie King faces possible retroactive suspension following a recommendation issued Nov. 30 by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee.
"This committee finds that Yolanda King has admitted her criminal activity for falsely filing erroneous domicile statements in her candidacy for Juvenile Court Judge for Orleans Parish, " LADB Hearing Committee No. 18 said in its seven-page recommendation.
The hearing committee found King violated rules of professional conduct regarding commission of a criminal act and conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. The committee recommended King receive a one-year suspension retroactive to the March 2016 date of her interim suspension and, "due to her financial strains," that King be ordered to pay half of the costs and expenses in the disciplinary proceedings against her.
Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Yolanda Julie King
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The recommendation was signed Nov. 28 by Committee chair Jill B. Goudeau and was issued two days later. Attorney member Barry W. Dowd and public member James D. Myers concurred in the recommendation.
King was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 23, 1993, according to her profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. King had no record of prior discipline before being elected judge.
King was elected to the juvenile bench in Orleans Parish in 2013 after she defeated Doug Hammel in a runoff in May of that year.
In May 2014 the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered King disqualified as a judge after criminal proceedings were lodged against her over allegations that she filed false election-related documents.
In November 2015, an Orleans Parish jury found King guilty of a felony for filing false public records and violating the state's election code when she said her domicile was in Orleans Parish but it actually was St. Tammany Parish, a violation of Louisiana's Constitution.
In March 2016, the state Supreme Court indefinitely suspended King from practicing law in the state.
King appealed her conviction and in November 2016 disciplinary proceedings against her were stayed pending outcome of her appeal. After a state appeals court remanded the case, in December 2017, King entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor disobeying any lawful instruction of a registrar, deputy registrar or commissioner.