BATON ROUGE — Eboni Johnson-Rose, a 19th JDC judge previously suspended for a year following a series of controversies, announced this week that she is running for reelection. 

"It has been an absolute honor and privilege to serve the people of East Baton Rouge Parish, and I am grateful for the trust and support you have shown me throughout my service," Johnson-Rose said in a Thursday announcement of her candidacy on Facebook.

Johnson-Rose was suspended in August 2024 for nearly a year after a series of controversial cases she presided over, including one where she convicted Baton Rouge Police officer Donald Steele of a crime that did not exist, the WBRZ Investigative Unit reported. 

She also took more than the legal amount of time off an arsonist’s sentence, something she later called a “regrettable oversight.”