Appointed by Jimmy Carter Spouse(s) Mary Martin Arceneaux Preceded by New judgeship Name George Jr. | Succeeded by Stanwood Duval Party Democratic Party Political party Democratic | |
Born May 17, 1928
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. ( 1928-05-17 ) Children Mary Elizabeth Arceneaux Dionne
George Arceneaux, III
Robert Martin Arceneaux Died April 6, 1993, Houma, Louisiana, United States Education Louisiana State University | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
George Arceneaux Jr. (May 17, 1928 – April 6, 1993) was a United States federal judge from Houma, Louisiana.
Biography
Born in New Orleans, Arceneaux served in the United States Army from 1951 to 1952 and then procured a BA degree in 1949 from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and a JD from American University, Washington College of Law in 1957. He was an administrative assistant to Democratic U.S. Senator Allen J. Ellender from 1952 to 1960. He was thereafter in private practice in Houma from 1960 to 1979.
On June 12, 1979, Arceneaux was nominated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 1979, and received his commission the following day, and served until his death in Houma.
In 1991, Arceneaux delivered the maximum sentence allowed on the conviction for multiple felonies of former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Douglas D. "Doug" Green of Baton Rouge. Judge Arceneaux ordered Green to serve twenty-eight concurrent five-year terms on conviction of conspiracy and mail fraud and two concurrent 20-year terms for laundering campaign loans. A jury determined that Green conspired with John and Naaman Eicher of the Champion Insurance Company, his largest campaign donors, to keep the failing company intact, a decision which cost Louisiana taxpayers $150 million. According to prosecution evidence, Green received $2.7 million in bribes. Green ultimately served about half of his total 25-year sentence in the federal prison in Pensacola, Florida.
Arceneaux was one of two sons of George Arceneaux, Sr., and the former Louise Austin. His brother was the educator Tommie Eugene "Tom" Arceneaux (1936-2013), who taught in East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge parishes and in other locations in Florida and Mississippi. Judge Arceneaux and his wife, the former Mary Martin, had three children, Mary Elizabeth Arceneaux Dionne (husband Fernand) of Metairie, Louisiana; George Arceneaux, III (wife Lynn), of Carencro, Louisiana, and Robert Martin Arceneaux (wife Jill) of Katy, Texas.