BATON ROUGE - 19th Judicial District Judge Carson Marcentel ruled not to recuse Judge Donald Johnson from the sentencing of Donald Steele. This was after East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutors didn't want Johnson to handle the sentencing since he is the uncle of 19th District Judge Eboni Johnson Rose.

Judge Donald Johnson, this month, took over Rose's criminal docket after she returned from a months-long suspension imposed by the Louisiana Supreme Court. After a number of errors on the bench, justices last summer removed her from the bench temporarily while a state panel reviewed her competency.

Former Baton Rouge Police Officer Donald Steele had been accused of second-degree kidnapping and malfeasance. After a bench trial, Rose acquitted him of the kidnapping charge and said he was guilty of misdemeanor malfeasance, a crime that doesn't exist. 

At Steele's sentencing in April 2024, Rose vacated the guilty verdict and entered a plea of not guilty. The state appealed, and the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and the State Supreme Court each said Steele was guilty of felony malfeasance.

The state argued in court not only about the family ties between the pair, but that Steele's attorney originally wanted Don Johnson to recuse himself from the case, but later changed their mind.

"We met with Judge Don Johnson, and both parties expressed their concerns. You know, is this a concern due to your familial relationship? He said, 'I'm gonna go do some legal research. I'm gonna look at the canons of judicial conduct.' He came back to us several days later and said, 'Look, I've done the research and reviewed the law, and I think that I can be very impartial.' That's good enough for us. That's good enough for Mr. Steele," attorney Kathryn Jakuback Burke said.

Marcentel stated that the state presented no facts beyond the pair's relationship and no evidence to suggest Don Johnson might rule improperly in this case.

"Yes, he's related, but there's been no evidence that he can't be fair and impartial, and our experience with him is that he is fair and impartial, so we're just moving forward," attorney Franz Borghardt said.

Donald Steele's sentencing is set for Sept. 8.