ST. FRANCISVILLE — District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla is leaving the job he’s had for more than two decades to make his transition to judge easier for the 20th Judicial District court system.
D’Aquilla drew no opposition when he qualified in August to run for the new post, which means that he got the job. Now he’s handing over the reins of the district attorney’s office to prosecutor Bruce Dodd, who will be sworn in on Oct. 1.
The 20th Judicial District covers East and West Feliciana parishes.
D’Aquilla said that if he continued to work as district attorney between now and January, when he assumes his new role, it will create more work for the division’s other judge because he won’t be able to handle any cases that arose when he was DA.
“It’s going to be a conflict of interest if I stay until the end of the year,” he told UWK on Wednesday. “It would clog up the docket.”
Any cases pending from his time in the district attorney’s office will have to either be handled by the other judge in the district or by an ad hoc judge brought in specifically for that purpose.
D’Aquilla was first elected district attorney in 2002.
He said he’s going to spend his time the rest of the year closing down his private law practice, doing some traveling to visit his daughters and taking a break.
D’Aquilla said he’s setting himself up to be able to “hit the ground running” when he assumes the bench in January.
“I’m really looking forward to a change,” he said.
Dodd will serve as the interim DA. He’s served as a prosecutor in D’Aquilla’s office for six years.
Dodd is not running for the DA’s post and said will work to ensure that the office is ready for whoever is elected in November.
Dodd told UWK that he will “keep the boat pointed in the same direction Sam D’Aquilla has it pointed.”
He will have the job for just over three months to “keep it afloat” for its next occupant.
Dodd, who has been an attorney for 37 years, spent much of his career as an attorney and assistant warden for the state Department of Corrections. He will be take over the district attorney’s office after a ceremony Thursday morning.
Two men are vying to become the 20th JDC’s next district attorney. Ken Fabre, who was Baker’s city prosecutor and city attorney, is running as a “no party” candidate. Cy D’Aquilla, who is distantly related to Sam D’Aquilla, has practiced civil, criminal and family law and is running as a Republican. The election is Nov. 3.
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