The Louisiana judge presiding over a high-profile criminal case accusing Black men of raping a White LSU student dismissed a 1972 rape conviction a year after she released a different rape suspect on reduced bail.
District Judge Gail Horne Ray’s decisions, coupled with her son’s serial rape conviction and her potential bias as a lifetime member of the NAACP, has raised concerns about conflicts of interest.
Ray took her oath of office as a 19th Judicial District Court judge Jan. 12, 2023. Three months later, she released De’Aundre Cox, who was accused of raping his preteen neighbor, without alerting the victim or notifying the district attorney’s office.
This month, she dismissed Donald Ray Link’s 1972 conviction for aggravated rape, which hadn’t even been requested by Link’s lawyers.
Link, who was serving a lifetime sentence, appeared before Judge Ray last month to request eligibility for parole.
Instead, she vacated the 50-year-old conviction because the jury was given “improper instructions” during the trial, which she called a “glaring error,” WAFB reported based on court filings.