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Louisiana judge resigns after admitting she sent racial slurs in texts

Judge Jessie LeBlanc admitted to sending the text messages on Sunday after denying them for months.

NEW ORLEANS — A Baton Rouge-area judge has resigned after she admitted she used racial slurs in angry text messages sent to an ex-lover, a former sheriff's deputy.

The Advocate in Baton Rouge reports District Judge Jessie LeBlanc sent a letter of resignation to the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office Wednesday. The resignation is effective immediately after the letter is received.

LeBlanc previously admitted that she was upset over the end of her extramarital affair with a sheriff's deputy when she sent him text messages including a slur for black people.

LeBlanc admitted to sending the text messages on Sunday after denying them for months. She apologized and said she never should have used the words, but had no plans to resign.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards called for LeBlanc to resign, saying she has damaged the judiciary. LeBlanc's lawyer responded, saying the governor should focus on his own branch of government and if private conversations pose a litmus test for holding public office then every other official should be held to the same standard.

Two-term Judge Jessie LeBlanc, the heir to a family with deep political ties in Ascension Parish, resigned Thursday after facing a chorus of calls to step down following the exposure of racist text messages she sent to her ex-lover, a former top sheriff's deputy, in a fit of anger more than a year ago.

RELATED: Governor calls on Louisiana judge who admitted using racist slurs to resign

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The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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