Judge Anastasia Wiley attended college at Baylor, Louisiana Tech and LSU. She is the first female city and district court judge in Winnfield/Winn Parish. After her election she was new as a district judge but not a new judge. She previously served as city judge. She is a member of the judicial college where she has served in several different capacities. Her job as she sees it is to remain unbiased, patient, dignified and courteous. She likes to do things in a timely manner, start on time and end on time if possible. One of her early issues was lawyers not showing up or not showing up on time.
In Louisiana 65% of districts only have one district judge because we are rural areas. Therefore they are on duty 24/7.
Judge Derr mentored her but she has a different workstyle. She uses computers, highlights her dockets so she knows what is coming when, likes things on time and stays on task. Judge Derr left her a good system for processing which she used for a few months. It has now been fine tuned. There are new thing to learn, new laws. She was to be in a zoom conference after the Kiwanis meeting.
She is responsible for the people in the detention center. Judge Wiley feels she has the key to their future. She has done 3 jury trials (1 was a 6 man and 2 were 12 man) since taking office. Her first jury trial to judge was the first jury trial she had been involved in because that was not the focus of her law practice. She hears both civil and criminal cases. She started with 300 felony cases and is now down to about 200. There are 20 – 30 on the docket each month. There are more criminal than civil cases.
The Police Jury is responsible for funding the court and she works closely with them. She has also used grants from the Supreme Court to fund some of the things needed in the office. They have a new phone system, computers for every desk, copier/printer, software, new audio system for courtroom and new court reporter equipment. They are working on a web site. The offices have been repainted and decorated with none of the costs being paid by the Police Jury. Her monthly office expense is around $7300. She uses no money from the criminal court fund. Half of that money returns to the Police Jury each year.
Judge Wiley believes that it is necessary to have a good judicial system for our community and she wants to do the best job she can.
