2015 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 78
BY SENATORS PEACOCK, ADLEY, ALARIO, ALLAIN, AMEDEE, APPEL,
BROOME, BROWN, BUFFINGTON, CHABERT, CLAITOR,
CORTEZ, CROWE, DONAHUE, DORSEY-COLOMB, ERDEY,
GALLOT, GUILLORY, HEITMEIER, JOHNS, KOSTELKA,
LAFLEUR, LONG, MARTINY, MILLS, MORRELL, MORRISH,
MURRAY, NEVERS, PERRY, PETERSON, RISER, GARY SMITH,
JOHN SMITH, TARVER, THOMPSON, WALSWORTH, WARD AND
WHITE
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere and heartfelt condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of
Louisiana upon the death of Caddo Parish District Attorney, Charles Rex Scott II.
WHEREAS, Charles Rex Scott II died suddenly on April 22, 2015, while on a
business trip to Baton Rouge; and
WHEREAS, the family of Caddo Parish district attorney Scott, as well as the legal
and law enforcement communities and all of Caddo Parish have suffered a great loss upon
the death of this well-known and widely respected public figure; and
WHEREAS, Charles Rex Scott II, known to his friends as Scotty, was born on July
3, 1947, in Natchitoches, Louisiana, the second child of Charles Mercer Scott and Marie
Baucum Scott; and
WHEREAS, Scott attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches before
moving to Baton Rouge in order to attend law school at Louisiana State University, from
which he graduated in 1971; and
WHEREAS, after receiving his Juris Doctorate degree from Louisiana State
University Law School, Scott and his wife, Alexis Pharris, moved to Shreveport and he
began his work in the criminal justice system as an assistant city attorney; and
WHEREAS, Scott served as assistant district attorney from 1973 until August 1,
1980, when he was elected judge of the Shreveport City Court without opposition to succeed
the late Judge Nolan Harper; and
WHEREAS, in 1982, Scott was elected to serve as a district judge for the First
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Judicial District, which encompasses Caddo Parish, and he served in that capacity for the
following twenty-five years, until his retirement as chief judge in 2007; and
WHEREAS, during his service as a district judge, Scott also served as president of
the Second Circuit Judges' Association and as president of the Louisiana District Judges'
Association, where he served on the executive board until 2008; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott came out of retirement in 2008 to run for district attorney
for the First Judicial District and he was elected to that post, where he served until his
untimely death; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott was the immediate past president of the Louisiana District
Attorneys' Association and he served as a member of the Drug and Violent Crime Policy
Board and the Louisiana Judicial Budgetary Control Board; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott served as a strong advocate for and the chairman of the
North Louisiana Crime Lab which serves twenty-nine parishes of north Louisiana and is
instrumental in investigating and solving crimes in those parishes, and, as evidence of his
instrumental leadership, construction of the crime lab is currently underway near the
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott served as cochairman of the master plan committee of the
Court Case Management Information System, which seeks to improve the reporting of
disposition data, particularly relevant to convictions for violent crimes and cases of driving
while intoxicated; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott was the former chairman of the committee to evaluate
requests for new judgeships, a committee of the Louisiana Judicial Council of the Louisiana
Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott also volunteered with the Council on Alcoholism and Drug
Abuse of Northwest Louisiana, getting to know many of the people afflicted with these
conditions well and serving as a great source of encouragement for them; and
WHEREAS, Judge Scott was a member of the Committee to Study Proper Court
Reporting in Louisiana, an adjunct professor in the Louisiana State University-Shreveport
paralegal program and he was active in the Inns of Court, an organization which seeks to
strengthen professionalism and ethics in the legal profession; and
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WHEREAS, Judge Scott and his wife Alexis have two children, son, Charles Rex
Scott III and daughter, Kelly Scott Padgett, and the Scotts have a total of seven wonderful
grandsons; and
WHEREAS, in a lifetime of public service to the criminal justice system and to the
law in the capacities of both advocate and judge, Judge Charles Scott was an exemplary
member of the bar, tireless in his efforts to serve both the law and his community, and his
untimely death only highlights the void that is left by his passing.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby express the sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the death of Caddo Parish
District Attorney, Judge Charles Rex Scott.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Alexis Pharris Scott and her children, Charles Rex Scott III and Kelly Scott Padgett.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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