Scott Jackson Crichton (born June 1, 1954) is a justice of the
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana (french: Cour suprême de Louisiane) is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orlea ...
. He was a judge of the
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
1st Judicial District Court in
Shreveport
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...
from 1991 to 2014. Crichton was elected to the district court in 1990 as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
. In 2014, he ran without opposition to succeed the retiring Justice
Jeffrey P. Victory for the District 2 seat on the seven-member state Supreme Court. The
nonpartisan blanket primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...
for the position was held on November 4, 2014 in eleven northwest Louisiana parishes.
Background
Crichton is the son of Thomas Crichton, III (1917–1989), who though born in
Monroe was a businessman-landholder descended from a pioneer family in
Minden
Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...
in
Webster Parish
Webster Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Webster'') is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana.
The seat of the parish is Minden.
As of the 2010 census, the Webster Parish population was 41,207. In 2018, the p ...
east of Shreveport. His mother, the former Mary Murff (1919–1983), was a native of Shreveport; her grandfather was a district court judge in 1906. Crichton himself was born in Shreveport but attended school for the first eight years in Minden. For high school, he was sent to the
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
, the
Webb School in
Bell Buckle in
Bedford County near
Shelbyville in middle
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. The school then had an enrollment of only two hundred but with a demanding curriculum, honor code, and required obstacle courses including the development of survival skills.
After graduation from the Webb School, Crichton attended
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
in
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...
, from which he received his undergraduate degree in 1976. In 1980, he received his
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree from the
Louisiana State University Law Center
The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University.
Because Louisiana is a ci ...
. He and his wife, the former Susan "Susie" Simonton (born November 23, 1957), whom he married c. 1986, have two sons, Stuart Jackson Crichton (a 2013 LSU Law school graduate) and Sam Crichton (a 2014 LSU Law school graduate). Since 1985, the judge has been a member of St. Mark's
Episcopal Cathedral in Shreveport.
Legal career
More than five hundred people attended Crichton's campaign kickoff party on April 29, 2013, at Ernest's Orleans Restaurant in Shreveport. Among those in attendance were fellow judges and law enforcement officials from around the state. Had he drawn an opponent, Crichton's campaign was to have been co-managed by his wife Susie and Carolyn Prator, the wife of Crichton's friend, Caddo Parish Sheriff
Steve Prator.
[Adam Duvernay, "Caddo District Judge Scott Crichton wants to be Justice Crichton", '']Shreveport Times
''The Times'' is a Gannett daily newspaper based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Its distribution area includes 12 parishes in Northwest Louisiana and three counties in East Texas. Its coverage focuses on issues affecting the Shreveport-Bossier market, ...
'', May 1, 2013
In 2017, Crichton ruled that a prisoner being interrogated by police who said "just me a lawyer dog" did not actually request a lawyer, because the request was ambiguous as to whether the prison was requesting a lawyer or a dog.
"A defendant asked the police to 'get me a lawyer, dog,' and was ignored. A judge ruled he could have wanted a litigious canine."
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crichton, Scott
1954 births
Living people
American Episcopalians
Louisiana Democrats
Louisiana lawyers
Louisiana state court judges
Louisiana State University alumni
Louisiana State University Law Center alumni
Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court
Politicians from Minden, Louisiana
Politicians from Shreveport, Louisiana
Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee) alumni
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges