Calcasieu 14th JDC Family and Juvenile Court candidates prepare for Saturday’s election

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - In Calcasieu Parish, one item on Saturday, Nov. 18th’s ballot is a runoff for the 14th JDC family and juvenile court judge.

Brad Guillory and Bill Cutrera are looking to fill the vacant position when judge Guy Bradberry was elected to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Each candidate told 7NEWS why they are running.

“The main reason is practicing law for so long, the inefficiencies we have in the family court system,” Guillory said. “It’s been as long as I’ve been practicing here as long as its been going on, it’s been like that. So, I’m running to try to change that. Make it way more efficient and get people in and out of the court system and not take two years to get try your case.”

Guillory has practiced law for 21 years. He said for most of that, he’s focused on family law.

Cutrera has 36 years of experience in the field.

“Family court deals with the divorces, child custody, child support, spousal support, community property partitions, protective orders, but it also deals with juvenile cases which are the delinquency cases, child in need of care cases - where you’re dealing with children who are sexually or physically abused or they are neglected in some way - and you’re dealing with termination of parental rights cases,” Cutrera said. “And I have handled every one of those cases and tried those cases in front of the court.”

Both candidates said that the biggest problem now is how quickly cases move through the court, something they each want to change.

“We’re going to change the way that everything gets processed from day one,” Guillory said. “So, eliminating the time span it takes trying cases and get everything in a more orderly fashion, having more rules in place that puts that time delay at a lot lesser amount.”

“The big problem that we’re having with the court is that it takes way too long to get cases to trial and I believe that with my experience that I can make that court more efficient,” Cutrera said.

The next family court judge will serve until retirement or their 70th birthday.

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