BATON ROUGE — A recusal hearing to remove Judge Gail Ray Horne off of the Madison Brooks & Casen Carver case was held in front of 19th JDC Judge Brad Myers on Wednesday, Oct. 29th.
Judge Myers is now taking all the evidence from the hearing, and the outcome of the recusal motion is under advisement. During court, text messages between Casen Carver and his father were revealed by the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office. One text read: “And the judge we are getting, I think u know about but we are friends with her and
she is really good for our case, her son was accused of rape a while back so she knows to help us.” (Additional texts below)
Madison Brooks’ death
It was Jan. 15, 2023 when LSU student Madison Brooks, 19, left Reggie’s Bar in Tigerland.
Casen John Carver is one of the four men charged in her rape and death case. His arrest warrant said that he noticed Brooks was drunk, and that she was unable to find her friends. He told deputies that he did not want to leave her alone, and he offered her a ride home.
Inside that vehicle with Carver were three other men, two of them are accused of taking turns having sex with Brooks. Carver told deputies that Brooks consented to sex with both men, but admitted that she was too impaired to give proper consent, the affidavit stated. Her blood alcohol content was 0.319, well over the legal limit of 0.08.
After that, the men dropped Brooks off to her neighborhood. Brooks died after being hit by a vehicle on Burbank Drive at Pelican Lakes Parkway that same night. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said Brooks was hit around 3 a.m. The driver who hit Brooks remained on scene and was not found at fault and was not impaired.
Casen Carver, 19, was indicted on first-degree and third-degree rape. Carver was initially charged with principle to third-degree rape when he was arrested in January. District Attorney Hillar Moore said the first-degree rape charge is a principal charge.
Recusing Judge Gail Ray Horne: “My daughter’s case must be heard before an impartial judge”
On Sept. 26, 2025, District Attorney Hillar Moore filed to recuse Judge Horne, the judge who is set to preside over the trial of Casen Carver, one of the four young men arrested in the Madison Brooks case. The DA’s motion came on the heels of Carver waiving his right to a trial by jury, according to court records and his attorney, meaning that his fate will be decided by a judge.
The recusal motion was filed under seal and was directed to Judge Myers with the hearing held Oct. 29, 2025.
Moore told UWK that he was hoping that Judge Horne would have voluntarily recused herself, because she’d initially ruled that certain evidence could be used in the trial that the First Circuit Court of Appeal ruled could not be used. The Appellate Court’s ruling is final, meaning that the evidence can no longer be used.
Judge Horne has also attempted to pardon a convicted rapist in 2024. The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed her pardon later and reinstated his life sentence.
Inside the recusal motion hearing this week, DA Moore’s office presented three specific text messages between Carver and his father highlighting reasons why Judge Horne should no longer preside over the case. These are the texts he presented:
“Because you know I was stressed about today but he still says we are good and judge
is on our side;”“Everything is good judge reset it for next [Wednesday, she had a [problem] opening
up all the discovery for the phones, but Joe said she is going to rule in our favor, he is
starting to get m[o]re pissed at Cathleen because of how stupid she is.”“And the judge we are getting, I think u know about but we are friends with her and
she is really good for our case, her son was accused of rape a while back so she knows to help us.”
Madison Brooks’ mother has been vocal about the recusal and spoke to UWK when the motion was originally filed.
“My daughter’s case must be heard before an impartial judge—one untainted by any connection to the kind of violence that destroyed her life,” Madison Brooks’ mother Ashley Baustert told UWK. “Anything less is a betrayal of justice, not just for her, but for every daughter who deserves to be protected, believed, and defended by the system meant to serve them.”
UWK did reach out to Casen Carver’s attorney Joe Long. He said he prefers to reserve comment until after the judge’s ruling on the recusal motion.
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