UPDATE: Third Court denies writ; former mayor’s trial moves forward

Published 6:17 pm Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Jury selection resumed Wednesday afternoon in the trial of former DeRidder mayor Misty Roberts after the Third Circuit Court of Appeal denied a writ filed by her defense team to quash and sever charges.

In the writ, Roberts’ attorneys — Adam Johnson, Todd Clemons, Micah Clemons and Andrew Leonards — requested the appellate court uphold several requests that had been denied by the trial’s Ad Hoc Judge D. Kent Savoie, which included a motion to quash a bill of information, sever offenses, and excise a text message from evidence.

The appellate court denied all requests.

“Considering the bill of information and the answer to the bill of particulars as a whole, the trial court did not err in denying (the) Defendant’s Motion to Quash Bill of Information,” the Third Circuit’s ruling reads.

Regarding the motion to excise, or remove, a text message from evidence, the appellate court’s opinion said the trial court did not err in denying the request, which had been based on the defense’s concern that “the words used may offend a juror’s sensibilities.”

Roberts was arrested in 2024, two days after resigning from office, and faces a felony charge of indecent behavior with a juvenile and a felony charge of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.