Martin Coady is the judge who will decide the fate St. George incorporation. Here’s his story.

In a matter of weeks, a retired judge from the judicial district that covers St. Tammany and Washington parishes will make one of the most important and closely-watched decisions in East Baton Rouge Parish’s history — whether St. George can form the parish’s fifth municipality, creating its own city.

So just who is Martin E. Coady, who presided over an eight-day judge trial of a lawsuit that seeks to block St. George’s incorporation? The trial wrapped up Wednesday.

Coady is 72. He graduated from De La Salle High School in New Orleans, the former University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette (Now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans. He served on the 22nd Judicial District Court for nearly three full decades.

But perhaps more importantly for the residents of St. George — and indeed all of the residents of East Baton Rouge — those who know Coady say he is a respected, open-minded and fair jurist who follows the law.

“He was a good pick to handle that case because he is well reasoned,” said 22nd JDC Judge Ray Childress, who served on the bench with Coady until Coady retired at the end of 2019.

Warren Montgomery, the district attorney for the 22nd JDC, said Coady was considered “one of the leading lights” on the 22nd JDC.

“He’s just an outstanding, highly respected jurist. He’s experienced. He’s intelligent. He has a good judicial demeanor. I’ve never heard anybody say anything negative about him,” Montgomery said.

“If I’m a lawyer appearing before Judge Coady, I’m very confident he’s going to follow the law,” he added.

Jeffrey Schoen, with the Jones Fussell law firm in Covington, described Coady as a well-respected, open-minded and fair judge who has “been around the block” and follows the law.

Twice daily we’ll send you the day’s biggest headlines. Sign up today.

Coady was elected to the 22nd JDC in October 1990 and was reelected without opposition four times.

Childress said he misses his friend and former colleague and said Coady “was one of the steady hands on the bench.”

The high-profile St. George case landed in Coady’s lap when the Louisiana Supreme Court appointed him to fill the 19th Judicial District Court seat vacated by retired Judge William Morvant.

Coady’s appointment officially ended Friday, but he still has the unfinished business of rendering a decision in the St. George case. He said he intends to make a decision in the next few weeks.

Former federal prosecutor and longtime attorney Brad Myers recently won the Division E seat previously held by Morvant with a 2-vote victory over lawyer and former LSU baseball player Jordan Faircloth.

East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and Metro Council leader LaMont Cole sued to block the St. George incorporation, alleging the city-parish would lose an estimated $48.3 million in annual revenue, most of that from sales taxes collected in St. George, if the incorporation happened — impairing city-parish services and triggering layoffs.

In an October 2019 election, 60% of registered voters within St. George’s boundaries in southeastern East Baton Rouge turned out, then 54% of them voted to approve the incorporation.

St. George proponents are pushing for a new municipality as a way to help set up a new school district and gain more control over how some of their tax dollars are spent. They say increased economic development in St. George will benefit the city-parish.

Organizers of St. George say they modeled their incorporation effort after the city of Central, the last municipality created within the parish. That was done in 2005.