A Louisiana woman has filed a lawsuit against state officials, alleging that she was unlawfully detained for years beyond her legal release date due to administrative errors and miscalculations. Blaire Duhon initiated the complaint on April 17, 2025, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against James M. LeBlanc, Chris Stinson, and Gary Westcott, all current or former officials with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
The case centers around Duhon's arrest on April 24, 2014, for vehicular homicide in Lafayette Parish. Following her guilty plea on August 21, 2015, she was sentenced to serve 25 years at hard labor with a portion suspended. However, due to what Duhon claims were miscalculations by the Department of Corrections regarding her offense classification as violent or non-violent, she ended up serving significantly more time than required. According to the complaint, "Louisiana routinely detains people weeks and months past their release dates," which is argued to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause.
Duhon's legal argument is bolstered by a series of events following her conviction. The Louisiana Supreme Court's decision in State v. Holloway clarified that vehicular homicide without a blood alcohol content (BAC) level over .20 should not be classified as a violent offense. Despite this ruling being made before Duhon's requests for sentence recalculation were denied in November 2016, defendants allegedly continued to treat her conviction as violent.
The plaintiff asserts that had her offense been correctly classified as non-violent from the outset, she would have served only about one-third of her sentence rather than overserving by several years both in prison and under house arrest. The complaint accuses the defendants of deliberate indifference and systemic failures in accurately calculating inmate release dates.
In seeking redress from the court, Duhon demands compensatory damages for emotional distress and economic loss caused by her extended detention. She also seeks punitive damages against each defendant jointly and severally for violating her constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Additionally, Duhon requests attorneys' fees and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
Representing Blaire Duhon are attorneys J. Kevin Stockstill and Richard L. Houghton III from Stockstill Defense Firm based in Lafayette, Louisiana. The case is presided over by Judge John W. deGravelles under Case ID: 3:25-cv-00325-JWD-EWD.