John Foster DeRosier

John Foster DeRosier, 78, longtime District Attorney for Calcasieu Parish, died Thursday morning.

He was born in Eunice, Louisiana, and graduated from St. Edmund High School.

John DeRosier attended undergraduate school at the University of Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana, and entered Louisiana State University Law School in 1967. While in law school, Mr. DeRosier enlisted as a United States Marine, serving as a machine gunner, where he spent 11 months in Vietnam and was awarded the Naval Achievement Medal with Combat "V." He re-entered law school upon his return to the States.

As a Lake Charles resident of 50 years, John DeRosier had a law practice that focused on civil litigation, personal injury, and criminal law until his election as District Attorney. He also served as City Attorney for the City of Lake Charles and General Counsel for the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office.

Mr. DeRosier has served on the Boy Scouts Board of Directors and on the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice. He is also a board member and past president of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association.

John DeRosier took the oath of office for Calcasieu Parish District Attorney on December 20, 2005, and was re-elected to additional six-year terms in 2008 and 2014, serving as District Attorney for 15 years.

Under his leadership as District Attorney, the oldest cold case murder in U.S. history was successfully prosecuted. Additionally, his office fought all the way to the United States Supreme Court to preserve convictions for some of the most notorious and dangerous criminals in Calcasieu Parish History. He led the historic effort to reinstate the conviction of notorious child killer Ricky Langley. His office also secured a conviction and capital penalty for the killer of Trooper Steven Vincent.

He co-founded the 100 Black Men of Lake Charles organization, established the Case Review Team to improve communications with law enforcement, and created the Calcasieu Full Force group to target DWI offenders in response to the excessive number of traffic fatalities and a 60% increase in DWIs.

He has been proactive and implemented an aggressive campaign to capture and prosecute sexual predators. He re-established the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program, assisted in the formation of Adult Drug and DWI Courts, and established the "Fatal Vision" DWI Simulation Program that travels to schools to demonstrate the effects of impaired driving.

Mr. DeRosier also worked with legislators to pass numerous items of legislation in both the Louisiana and Texas legislatures relative to the regulation of pain management clinics and the legal distribution of controlled dangerous substances in the form of narcotic pain medication and other controlled dangerous substances.

During the 2006 Louisiana legislative session, Mr. DeRosier initiated "doctor shopping" legislation to decrease the number of deaths from "pain management" prescription drug overdoses in our young adult population. He was instrumental in organizing the Task Force of Louisiana and Texas legislators, law enforcement, and administrative agencies to combat the proliferation of pain management clinics in Southeast Texas and Louisiana. Mr. DeRosier has spoken at numerous conferences, as well as the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the DEA Pain Clinic Symposium in Nashville, and the Southern Legislative Conference in Memphis, about abuse of prescription pain medications. He also participated in a national prescription working group in New Mexico, which was sponsored by the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws. The purpose of this group is to identify current problems relative to the abuse of pain management medication and different methodologies for controlling the dispensing of these dangerous drugs by medical providers and abuse of these medications by addicted users, as well as those addicted to the monetary profits obtained from illegal sales of prescription medications.

With his leadership, in the 2010 Louisiana legislative session, Louisiana initiated the toughest felony DWI mandatory minimum sentences in the country. Mr. DeRosier received the Louisiana DWI Law Enforcement Award from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, the 2012-2013 "Patriot of the Year Award" from the Lake Charles Armed Services Commission, the 2013 Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame Award, and the 2016 "Friend of Pro Bono Award" from the Louisiana State Bar Association.

Mr. DeRosier was an active member of the W. B. Williamson Post #1 of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was the 1986 Sustaining Membership Enrollment Chairman for the Calcasieu Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. He was also active with the March of Dimes and the Lake Charles Women's Shelter, a member of the Southwest Rifle and Pistol Club, the Calcasieu Cattlemen's Association, and the Louisiana Rice Growers Association, and served on the Board of Directors of the Literary Council of Southwest Louisiana.

After he retired from the District Attorney's Office, he resumed the private practice of law with his son Jimmy at their law firm.

He is survived by his wife Leigh Cross DeRosier, one son James "Jimmy" DeRosier and his wife Mili, a daughter Britany Puckett, a granddaughter Hannah Faye DeRosier, and a step-son Alexander Miles.

He is also survived by a brother, Robert DeRosier, and his wife, Claudia, and a sister, Elaine DeRosier.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Karen McBurney DeRosier, his parents, Paul and Helen Miller DeRosier, two sisters, Helena Head and Dolores "Tiki" DeRosier, two brothers, Paulie DeRosier and Francis Joseph DeRosier.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 AM Saturday, October 4, at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church. Monsignor Danny Torres will officiate. Burial will be in Consolata Cemetery with Marine Corps Honors, under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home. Visitation will be at the funeral home from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM on Friday and from 8:00 AM until 9:40 AM Saturday. A rosary will be recited at 6:30 PM on Friday in the funeral home.

The family would like to especially thank Enola "Chucky" Smith for her loving care of dad.