John Mamoulides

John Mitchell Mamoulides
District Attorney for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
In office 1972 – May 8, 1990
Preceded by	Frank Langridge
Succeeded by	Jack Capella (interim)
Born	March 9, 1933 Crowley, Acadia Parish
Died	August 1, 2023 (aged 90) Covington, St. Tammany Parish
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery in Crowley, Louisiana
Political party	Democrat
Spouse(s)	Savilla Lambousy Mamoulides (married 1954-2022, her death)
Children	Joan Marie Mamoulides Gregory Mamoulides (both deceased) Carola Mamouldies Milkovich Mitchell Mamoulides
Alma mater	Crowley High School University of Louisiana at Lafayette Tulane University Law Center
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Episcopalian
Military Service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Rank	Navigator for Air Defense Command

John Mitchell Mamoulides (March 9, 1933 – August 1, 2023) was the district attorney from 1972 to 1996 of Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana

A local and state political kingmaker, Mamoulides (pronounced MAM OH LEE DEES) pushed for policies with legislators and governors to enhance law enforcement. Unlike many prosecutors, Mamoulides said that as DA he emphasized not the rate of criminal convictions but each individual case to determine if the suspect was indeed guilty. He strongly supported the admission of exculpatory evidence, which many prosecutors try to keep out of the grand jury record.

Background

Mamoulides was one of four children of Greek immigrants Mitchell D. and Pansy G. Mamoulides (1908-2001), she an active member of the Greek Orthodox Church. Born in Crowley in Acadia Parish near Lafayette, he grew up working in the family's cafe business. After the death of his father in 1945, when Mamoulides was twelve years of age, he took odd jobs to support his family. He still found time to play sports at Crowley High School. He graduated from the institution now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and then entered the United States Air Force in which he was a navigator named to a team that protected the nation's advanced and often secret technology housed at a radar base in California under the Air Defense Command. Upon discharge from active duty, Mamoulides enrolled in law school at Tulane University in New Orleans. For a time he also worked as an air traffic controller and a construction worker.

Career

Mamouilides established a law practice in Jefferson Parish and in 1966 became an assistant district attorney prior to his election in 1972 as the DA. He won the post in a Democrat primary runoff with Jim Donelon, the current retiring long-term state insurance commissioner and a former state legislator who in 1980 defected to the Republican Party. Mamoulides served four terms and resigned in 1992, with a few months remaining in his last term.

Together with DAs and sheriffs from around the state, Mamoulides influenced legislation and created one of the first Child Advocacy Centers in the nation. He pushed with other law enforcement officials on behalf of single parents and their families to retrieve unpaid child support. He instituted a pre-trial diversion program that significantly reduced the rate of recidivism for first offenders. He employed social workers to assist victims and their families. He established the first consumer protection division in a DA's office which gave individuals a way to report fraud and obtain resolution. He prosecuted high-profile celebrities, public officials, and even police, when the evidence showed they had committed crimes. He never refused to prosecute because he disagreed with the law in question. Beyond the state level, he argued and won five cases before the United States Supreme Court which impacted criminal justice across the nation. Mamoulides was elected president of the Louisiana District Attorney's Association and testified in Baton Rouge and Washington, D.C. regarding law enforcement. He was appointed to the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel after he retired from the DA's Office. The Louisiana Supreme Court appointed him to multiple justice committees.

Personal life

Though a Democrat presidential elector, he claimed to be an Independent voter and supported candidates regardless of party affiliation. In 2016, he was inducted, along with the Chehardy family of Jefferson Parish, into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.Active too in community affairs, he was the senior warden of the Vestry of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church. He served as the president of the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo.

Mamoulides lived the last few years at St. Anthony's Gardens in Covington in St. Tammany Parish, also in suburban New Orleans. He died of Alzheimer's disease on the 69th anniversary of his marriage to the former Savilla Lambousy (1930-2022). The couple had four children, two deceased (Joan Marie and Gregory) and son Mitchell Mamoulidies and daughter Carola Milkovich, an attorney in Shreveport who is married to former state Senator John Milkovich, also an attorney. Carola and John had one daughter, Sarah, a Harvard College graduate who practives law in Boston, Massachusetts. He and Savilla are interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Crowley, Louisiana.

Current Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul David Connick, Jr., a Democrat and a brother of the Republican state Senator Patrick Connick (both are cousins of musician Harry Connick, Jr.), was once an assistant to Mamoulides. He said of his mentor: “His influence on our criminal justice system, both locally and statewide, cannot be overstated. It was a privilege to work for him.”