The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office is turning over the prosecution of a local lawyer and former judicial candidate to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Michael Pierre Ned, 44, has three cases in 14th Judicial District Court: filing or maintaining false public record and violating a protective order; public intimidation and retaliation; and domestic abuse battery by strangulation.

Ned’s wife is also being prosecuted by the state in an unrelated matter, prosecutor Carla Sigler said. Sigler said the District Attorney’s Office is recusing itself from Ned’s cases and the one involving his wife.

“It is unethical for our office to handle any case where the victim is also a defendant we are prosecuting,” Sigler said in a statement. “That was the reason for the recusal agreement in all of the cases.”

Ned ran for a judgeship in 14th Judicial District Court in April, after Wilford Carter stepped down midterm. Sharon Wilson won the election to fill the rest of the term, garnering 68 percent of the vote. Ned received 21 percent, and Derrick Kee received 12 percent.

The District Attorney’s Office said that although most of the charges stem from a September 2013 incident, it did not formally charge Ned until after the election so as not to influence the results.

Ned has claimed since his arrest that the District Attorney’s Office prosecuted him to keep him from running again in the Nov. 4 election. Wilson was unopposed and was re-elected.

“They’ve come to terms that there was a serious conflict involved from the beginning,” Ned said.

He is accused of knocking his wife unconscious on their back porch, then dragging her inside and putting a pillow over her face. He is also accused of illegally trying to obtain an order of protective custody against his wife.

Ned has denied the accusations.(MGNonline)