Kernan "Skip" Hand

Kernan August Hand, Sr., known as Kernan "Skip" Hand (born December 30, 1945), is a retired state court judge of the 24th Judicial District from Kenner in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. A Republican, Hand served in the "Division H" judgeship from the spring of 1994 until his retirement on December 31, 2008. Previously, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 79 from 1984 until he stepped down ten years later^[1] to assume his judicial position.

Republican politics

Hand won the District 79 legislative seat from Jefferson Parish in the general election held on November 19, 1983, when he defeated fellow Republican Herb Cammatte, 4,715 votes (55 percent) to 3,852 (45 percent).^[2] That previous month former Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, a Democrat, had successfully staged his third-term comeback against the incumbent Republican David C. Treen, then from Jefferson Parish. On October 24, 1987, Hand won a second legislative term, when he defeated the Democrat Sal Lejarza, 10,128 votes (82.4 percent) to 2,160 (17.6 percent).^[3]

In 1991, Hand won his third term in the state House by defeating the Democrat Sherry Schneider, 6,473 (61.5 percent) to 4,047 (38.5 percent).^[4] When he left the legislature, Hand was succeeded by a fellow Republican attorney from Jefferson Parish, Danny Martiny,^[5] thereafter the state senator from District 10.

Hand won the judgeship in the special election held on March 26, 1994, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judge Hubert A. Vondenstein (1931–1993), whose service began in 1986.^[6] Hand defeated the Democrat Ronald T. Gracianette of Madisonville, 6,326 (59.2 percent) to 4,363 (40.8 percent).^[7] After nearly fifteen years on the bench, Hand was succeeded as judge by the former Democratic State Representative Glenn Ansardi of Kenner, who served in the House from 1986 to 2008.^[8]

Meanwhile, in 1988, Representative Hand was the Republican candidate in a regional race for the Louisiana Public Service Commission, having been defeated by his legislative colleague and future Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat from Lafayette. Blanco polled 161,270 votes (57.3 percent) to Hand’s 120,392 (43.7 percent). In defeat, Hand won his own Jefferson Parish and the southeastern coastal parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines,^[9] formerly the domain of political boss Leander H. Perez.

Tulane scholarship issue

Each Louisiana legislator may award a tuition waiver—worth some $17,000 in 1993—to one student per year at Tulane University, under an 1884 law approved when the school was converted from a public to a private institution. As a legislator, Hand was one of four lawmakers in 1993 found to have given Tulane scholarships to their own children. The others were Jim Donelon (later state insurance commissioner) and Ken Hollis (both Republicans), and Steve Theriot of Marrero (a Democrat), all in the New Orleans suburbs. Several other legislators admitted having given the scholarships to politically connected applicants. New Orleans Democratic Mayor Sidney Barthelemy confessed to having given his allotted scholarship to his son.^[10]

Selected court cases

Judge Hand presided in his Division H courtroom in Gretna, the seat of government of Jefferson Parish. In the 1996 case involving Allen Snyder, an African American former Marine accused of murdering his estranged wife's male companion, Hand permitted the exclusion of two blacks from the jury under the prosecutor's peremptory challenges.^[11] After a dozen years, the United States Supreme Court in 2008 ruled 7 to 2 in Snyder v. Louisiana that Hand violated the 1986 precedent, Batson v. Kentucky, which forbids excluding jurors on the basis of race.^[11]

In 2007, Judge Hand sentenced 22-year-old Terrell Williams of St. Rose in St. Charles Parish to twenty-five years' imprisonment in exchange for his guilty plea to having caused the death of 14-month-old Tyler Cerise. Williams struck the child and his mother, Erin Cerise, with a stolen vehicle at a Wal-Mart outlet in Kenner. Jason Cerise, father of Tyler and husband of Erin, said that Williams "destroyed our family that day [and while] he will be sentenced to incarceration today, on that day we were sentenced to a life of agony." Hand's courtroom was the scene of such emotion in the Williams case that the judge, courtroom staff, and prosecutors broke into tears.^[12]

In 2004, Hand ordered an growth hormone treatment for an eleven-year-old boy who is shorter than 95 percent of his peers. The father, a Tulane professor, said he that was unsure if the treatment, estimated at $20,000 annually, would be covered by insurance. Judge Hand cited reports from three physicians who indicated "overwhelming evidence" to support the treatment.^[13]

Judge Hand today

Judge Hand and his wife, Gloria R. Hand, have at least two sons, Kernan Hand, Jr. (born ca. 1970), an attorney, and David Michael Hand (born ca. 1981).^[14]

On September 23, 2009, Judge Hand was unanimously named hearing officer by the Jefferson Parish Council.^[15] He left the hearing officer position in 2010.

In 2011, Hand was defeated in a race for a seat on the Jefferson Parish Council by fellow Republican Ben Zahn.^[16]

References