James E. Paxton

James Edward Paxton, known as Jim Paxton (born December 19, 1963), is the district attorney of the Louisiana 6th Judicial District, which encompasses East Carroll, Madison, and Tensas, the delta parishes along the Mississippi River in the northeastern corner of the state.

Paxton was born and reared in Madison Parish. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1985 from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. In 1988, he obtained his law degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge. He then joined the law firm of Christovich & Kearney in New Orleans, where he practiced until 1993. From 1993 to 2002, he was the assistant district attorney in the 6th District; from 2002 to 2008, the first assistant district attorney. In November 2007, District Attorney Buddy Caldwell of Tallulah in Madison Parish was elected Attorney General of Louisiana. In January 2008, Caldwell elevated Paxton, a Democrat, to the position of district attorney.^[1] Thereafter, Paxton was elected as DA in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 4, 2008. He received 5,767 votes (72 percent) to 2,242 (28 percent) for his lone opponent, Joy Rachelle Jackson (born 1968), another Democrat from Tallulah.^{[2] [3]}

Paxton and his wife reside with their three children in St. Joseph in Tensas Parish. He is a deacon and Sunday school teacher at the St. Joseph Baptist Church. Paxton is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Louisiana District Attorneys Association.^[1]

Paxton describes his goals as district attorney as making "sure that we seek justice swifly, but fairly ... that we honor our primary obligation to protect the public, but do so in a manner that is just, ethical, and proper."^[1]

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