Many Attorney Verity Gentry has announced she is a candidate for Judge from the 11th Judicial District in Sabine Parish. She is seeking the post vacated when Judge Stephen B. Beasley resigned effective April 1. Qualifying for the post is July 20-22 with the election to be held Nov. 8.
She was born and raised in Many, the daughter of Robert and Marsha Gentry. She was graduated from Many High School where she was very active in student activities. She attended church at First Baptist of Many, Calvary Baptist and Word of Truth Church, and also served on a mission trip to Romania while in high school.
Verity was graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 2007 where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in business and pre-law. At LSU she was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority.
During her college years, 2003 until 2007, she worked in the Louisiana Attorney General’s office under both Richard Ieyoub and Charles Foti, assisting the state’s top prosecutors.
In 2010 she graduated Cum Laude with a law degree from Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans. She was named a William L. Crowe Sr. Scholar and was in the top 10 percent of her class. She also served as Loyola’s head teaching assistant for the Legal Research and Writing Department from Aug. 2008 until Dec. 2009.
While at Loyola, Verity was a Maritime Law Society Member, Substance, Citation Editor of the Maritime Law Journal, and a member of St. Thomas More Inn of Court.
During college, she served one summer as a legislative intern for Sen. Mary Landrieu in Washington DC. Additionally, she served as a judicial intern for Federal Magistrate Mary Milloy in Houston.
In her final year of law school, she served as law clerk for the Orleans Public Defenders Office in New Orleans from May 2009 until May 2010.
After graduation in 2010, she worked for the Orleans Public Defenders Office until Sept. 2013, gaining valuable courtroom experience. Verity was then invited to join the law firm of Kammer and Huckabay in Shreveport, where she handled cases from Sept. 2013 until March 2015. In March 2015, she moved to personal injury firm Gregorio, Chafin and Johnson in Shreveport, where she continued until Jan. 2017.
With literally thousands of successful cases under her belt, Verity opened her own law practice at American Tower in Shreveport specializing in personal injury and criminal defense, representing her clients through every stage of litigation including evidentiary hearings and trial. It was in Shreveport she worked tirelessly on a case covered across the U.S. – false accusations leveled against Michael Tyler, also known as rapper “Mystikal.” It was her painstaking work applying expert toxicology testing and surveillance video that caused charges against the performer to be dropped.
As that achievement took shape, she opened a second office in Many in 2020, which quickly proved successful.
During her law practice, she has received multiple awards, including being named by her peers a “Rising Star Super Lawyer,” which is only awarded to the top 2.5 percent. She has argued and won thousands of cases across Louisiana. In addition, she drafted an opinion that was affirmed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit.
“If elected I will be faithful to the U.S. Constitution and to the Constitution and laws of Louisiana,” she said. “I will be independent, impartial and will bring integrity to the Court. I have a very deep commitment to due process of law. I pledge fair, accurate and humane criminal justice.”
She continued, “I will look at rehabilitative sentencing in appropriate non-violent cases and believe in transparency and equity in the judicial system. I am hardworking, experienced, and fair and will bring professional competence to the bench.”
“I pledge that I will strive to render fair justice,” Verity stated. “Justice means to set things right. I believe in law and order, and I believe in justice tempered with mercy. Scripture teaches us that the ultimate judge is both just and merciful, and that is the model I will strive to emulate. There is no better example.”
In closing, she stated, “I want to thank everyone for their encouragement and support. The response received on my campaign web site and Facebook page have been overwhelming. I love Sabine Parish, my home, and I want to serve as your judge. Qualifying is at the end of July and the election is in November. I humbly ask for your support. Thank you very much.”