Changes

|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]

|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]

|office=District Attorney for Grant Parish

|office=District Attorney for Grant Parish

|term_start=January 1, 1973

|term_start=Missing

|term_end=November 15, 1980

|term_end=November 15, 1980

|preceded=Sam Wells

|preceded=Sam L. Wells

|succeeded=Joe Beck, II

|succeeded=Joe Beck, II

|office2=Judge of the 35th Judicial District (Grant Parish)

|office2=Judge of the 35th Judicial District (Grant Parish)

==Judicial career==

==Judicial career==

Lutes was elected district attorney in 1972 and served until his resignation on November 15, 1980. In the special election to choose Lutes' successor as DA, Robert Kennedy, an opponent of Lutes' interim successor and former law partner Joe Beck, II, of Pollock, questioned how the DA handled a shooting on Egg Farm Road on November 30, 1979; one five men involved eventually pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. Lutes' handling of the Bobby Ray Brown case came under fire when attorney Kennedy claimed that Brown should have been prosecuted for two deaths before his later indictment for manslaughter in connection with a barroom brawl. Kennedy further claimed that brutal crimes were not prosecuted because of what he called "laziness or incompetence."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/216344586/|title=Candidates for DA in Grant Exchange Stinging Criticisms|publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk|date=April 2, 1981|page=1|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref>  

Lutes served as district attorney for Grant Parish until his resignation on November 15, 1980. In the special election to choose Lutes' successor as DA, Robert Kennedy, an opponent of Lutes' interim successor and former law partner Joe Beck, II, of Pollock, questioned how the DA handled a shooting on Egg Farm Road on November 30, 1979; one five men involved eventually pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. Lutes' handling of the Bobby Ray Brown case came under fire when attorney Kennedy claimed that Brown should have been prosecuted for two deaths before his later indictment for manslaughter in connection with a barroom brawl. Kennedy further claimed that brutal crimes were not prosecuted because of what he called "laziness or incompetence."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/216344586/|title=Candidates for DA in Grant Exchange Stinging Criticisms|publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk|date=April 2, 1981|page=1|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref>  

Beck, who became acting DA when Lutes stepped down, pledged in the campaign to reduce the backlog of cases in his office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/216262931/|title=Acting Grant DA Pledges to Cut Backlog if Elected|publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk''|date=March 3, 1981|page=4|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref>Beck went on to defeat Kennedy in the special election to choose a successor for the three years remaining in Lutes' term. A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Lutes was elected in 1983 as district court judge, a post which he held from January 7, 1984,<ref name=sworninasjudge>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/216156581/|title=Billy G. Lutes Is Sworn In As 35th District Court Judge |publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk''|date=January 8, 1984|page=28|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref> until his resignation on March 1, 1994, at the age of sixty-three.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/218065675/|title=District Judge B. G. Lutes Resigns|publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk''|date=March 5, 1994|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref> Lutes was sworn in as judge by Jeannette Theriot Knoll (born 1943), then a judge of the Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit in Lake Charles and later a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in [[New Orleans]]. She became acquainted with Lutes when she was an assistant DA for Avoyelles Parish. Knoll mentioned "several occasions" in which she worked with Lutes on criminal cases: "Billy is a man of integrity and legal ability qualities that are needed in a judge. ... He assumes "a great judicial task. The people of Grant Parish are very privileged to have such a man as Billy Lutes to serve as their judge."<ref name=sworninasjudge/>  

Beck, who became acting DA when Lutes stepped down, pledged in the campaign to reduce the backlog of cases in his office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/216262931/|title=Acting Grant DA Pledges to Cut Backlog if Elected|publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk''|date=March 3, 1981|page=4|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref>Beck went on to defeat Kennedy in the special election to choose a successor for the three years remaining in Lutes' term. A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Lutes was elected in 1983 as district court judge, a post which he held from January 7, 1984,<ref name=sworninasjudge>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/216156581/|title=Billy G. Lutes Is Sworn In As 35th District Court Judge |publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk''|date=January 8, 1984|page=28|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref> until his resignation on March 1, 1994, at the age of sixty-three.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/218065675/|title=District Judge B. G. Lutes Resigns|publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk''|date=March 5, 1994|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref> Lutes was sworn in as judge by Jeannette Theriot Knoll (born 1943), then a judge of the Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit in Lake Charles and later a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in [[New Orleans]]. She became acquainted with Lutes when she was an assistant DA for Avoyelles Parish. Knoll mentioned "several occasions" in which she worked with Lutes on criminal cases: "Billy is a man of integrity and legal ability qualities that are needed in a judge. ... He assumes "a great judicial task. The people of Grant Parish are very privileged to have such a man as Billy Lutes to serve as their judge."<ref name=sworninasjudge/>