UPDATE — Casen Carver’s attorney has now won an appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court to put 19th Judicial District Court Judge Gail Horne Ray back in charge of Carver’s rape and video voyeurism case.
Joe Long filed the application for supervisory review in March 2026. He argued that the First Circuit Court of Appeal used an irrelevant case as the underpinning for rejecting his effort to overturn the judge’s recusal.
The Louisiana Supreme Court said in their ruling:
“Writ granted. We find that the State has failed to carry its burden to require recusal in this case. The ruling of the trial court is reversed and the matter is remanded for further proceedings.”
BATON ROUGE — The fight over whether 19th Judicial District Court Judge Gail Horne Ray should preside over the bench trial of one of the suspects in Madison Brooks’ rape is headed to the state Supreme Court.
Judge Brad Myers in November granted a motion by the district attorney’s office to recuse Ray in the trial of Casen Carver, one of the men accused of being involved in the rape of Brooks, who was hit by a car and died after a group of men dropped her off in Pelican Lakes subdivision in January 2023.
More: Motion granted to recuse judge in Madison Brooks case, assigned to different judge
Prosecutors allege that four young men were in a car when Brooks was raped after a night of heavy drinking in Tigerland. Three of them, including Carver, were indicted in the case. Carter faces charges of first-degree rape, third-degree rape and video voyeurism. The three suspects are being tried separately.
Defense attorneys say the sex was consensual. Prosecutors say Brooks, whose blood-alcohol level was cited in a civil lawsuit filed by her family at .282 — or more than three times the legal limit for diving, was too impaired to legally consent.
Most of the documents outlining the arguments for and against the recusal of Ray have been filed under seal. In a hearing on the D.A.’s request for her recusal, attorneys discussed text messages between Carver and his father that suggested that they believed Judge Ray, whose own son served more than 20 years in prison after a series of rapes of his high school classmates, was sympathetic to Carver’s position.
READ NOW: Text messages between Carver & his father
In his decision recusing Ray, Judge Myers said that even though no concrete problem was found with Ray’s handling of the case, ultimately, the need “to safeguard public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary” made it necessary to recuse her.
Joe Long, Carver’s attorney appealed that decision to the First Circuit, saying at the time that it was likely to wind up before the Supreme Court.
Brooks’ mother Ashley Baustert said Friday that she was grateful the recusal was upheld.
“What happened to my daughter should never have happened, and those involved can no longer avoid accountability,” she said. “Her voice will be heard in court, and we stand firmly in her honor as the truth comes to light.”
Long said he knew the case would likely require another round of appeals no matter how the First Circuit ruled. He said they would file for expedited consideration of the case.
He said that one of the cases the court cited as precedent involved a judge whose brother worked in a police evidence department and was to be a witness in a capital murder case.
“This case it nothing like that one,” Long said.
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