BOSSIER CITY, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Voters in Bossier and Webster parishes will select a new 26th Judicial Court Judge on Saturday, March 26.
Allie Aiello Stahl and Doug Stinson are on the ballot to replace Judge Charles Jacobs, who stepped down to become City Attorney for Bossier City when Mayor Tommy Chandler took office in July 2021.
Both Stinson and Stahl are Republicans and currently assistant district attorneys in the Bossier-Webster District Attorney’s Office.
Stahl brings a decade’s worth of courtroom experience to the table.
“I’ve tried numerous misdemeanor and felony bench trials in our district court. I’ve also successfully argued a case in the Louisiana Supreme Court, which strengthened our sex offender registration requirements,” Stahl said.
Doug Stinson has been in the courtroom for 14 years. In addition to serving as an ADA 26th Judicial District, he is the Town Attorney for Benton and serves as in-house counsel at the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office.
“I have a lot of different jury trails. Especially murder cases, rape cases, attempted murders, and I’m going to continue to be tough on violent crime,“ Stinson said.
Those trials earned Stinson endorsements from the Bossier Parish Sheriff, Bossier City Marshall, and others involved with law enforcement.
“I’m going to continue to be tough on violent crime and support law enforcement when they do the job well, back them up every way I can,“ Stinson said.
Download the KTAL News app 📲
However, Stahl has taken a different approach, with that she cans an “Integrity Pledge.”
Stahl says the pledge means no endorsements from politicians and outside influences.
“I believe that I will be able to be fair and impartial. There will be no appearance, even, that I have any sort of favoritism towards anyone. I’ll just be fair and impartial and decide cases based on what you should decide cases on, which is the law, facts, and our constitution.”
If elected, Stahl would be the first female judge in the 26th Judicial District, which covers Bossier and Webster parishes.
Although she could be the first female judge in those two parishes, that is not the foundation of Allie’s campaign or even her hopes for her legacy.
“I don’t want anyone to think that I would ask anyone to vote for me just because I’m a female. That’s not what I’m doing. I am a qualified female. But I do think that I will be able to bring an additional perspective to our judicial court that we have never had before.”
And if Stinson is elected, he wants his legacy to be fairness the courtroom.
“I would want my legacy to be that I applied the law as written, that I was fair to everyone that entered the courtroom, my courtroom was colorblind, and justice was for everyone that entered the courtroom.
Election Day in the Louisiana Open Municipal Primary is Saturday, March 26, 2022. The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
