SLS 15RS-2495 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 142
BY SENATOR CLAITOR
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Sue Bernie upon her retirement from the East Baton
Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend and congratulate Sue Bernie upon the occasion of her retirement from the East
3 Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office and to recognize her exemplary public
4 service during the many years of her extraordinary career.
5 WHEREAS, Ettie Sue Bernie has announced her retirement as the East Baton Rouge
6 Parish assistant district attorney, closing the extraordinary prosecutorial career of a woman
7 who has demonstrated unparalleled ability in her many years of public service to the people
8 of East Baton Rouge Parish and to the state of Louisiana; and
9 WHEREAS, she graduated from H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College with a
10 bachelor of arts degree and from the University of Florida Law School, being admitted to
11 the Florida bar in 1978; and
12 WHEREAS, Sue Bernie was admitted to the Louisiana bar on October 17, 1980,
13 worked for three years at the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office before joining the
14 staff of the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's Office in 1986, and has been the section
15 chief of the office's sex crimes division since 1988; and
16 WHEREAS, she has come in contact with thousands of children and adults
17 victimized by sexual and physical abuse, from as young as age three to as old as age
18 ninety-nine, during her more than three-decade career of seeking justice for victims of sexual
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SLS 15RS-2495 ORIGINAL
1 and physical assault; and
2 WHEREAS, having handled thousands of sex crimes cases in her career and tried
3 more such jury trials than any other sex crimes prosecutor, Sue Bernie has been a tireless
4 champion for sexual assault victims in Louisiana; and
5 WHEREAS, she blazed a path previously untraveled, and her expertise and skill in
6 the realm of sex crime prosecution is such that people from all over the state look to her for
7 advice and guidance in sexual assault-related matters; and
8 WHEREAS, Sue Bernie played a large role in the creation of the Baton Rouge
9 Children's Advocacy Center in 2002, a "child-friendly" environment where young victims
10 can be interviewed by law enforcement and child protection workers, and to which, in recent
11 years, more therapy services have been added for children and their families; and
12 WHEREAS, she has testified numerous times before the Legislature and was
13 instrumental in having the spousal exception removed from the state's rape statute in 1990;
14 she has been a district attorney representative on the Children's Advocacy Center board and
15 will continue as an ad hoc member in her retirement; and
16 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault annually presents the
17 Sue Bernie Justice Award to deserving recipients; and
18 WHEREAS, the people of East Baton Rouge Parish and the state of Louisiana have
19 benefitted from the service of Sue Bernie, whose fine legal mind and distinctive
20 accomplishments have brought immense pride not only to her state but to all those who have
21 been fortunate to have had the benefit of her knowledge and commitment to justice; and
22 WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana to take
23 proper notice of the accomplishments of Sue Bernie and to express the appreciation of the
24 members of the Senate for her exceptional public service.
25 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
26 does hereby commend and congratulate Sue Bernie upon the occasion of her retirement from
27 the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office and acknowledge with tremendous
28 gratitude her outstanding contribution to the administration of justice in her community.
29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana does
30 hereby extend to her all the best wishes for success and happiness in her future endeavors.
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SLS 15RS-2495 ORIGINAL
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Sue
2 Bernie.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
SR 142 Original 2015 Regular Session Claitor
Commends Sue Bernie upon the occasion of her retirement from the East Baton Rouge
Parish District Attorney's Office.
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