Judge inherits hefty case load by Johnny Gunter - posted Thursday, January 24th, 2013 @ 12:00 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Alvin Sharp faced a backlog of more than 800 criminal cases left to him by Judge Robert Johnson when Sharp started handling criminal court matters earlier this month. Sharp began handling criminal cases Jan. 1. Johnson gave up criminal court to preside over civil matters. Sharp presided over civil cases for the past 14 years while Johnson dealt with criminal court since becoming a District Court judge in 2009. A public records request submitted to the 4th Judicial District Court, the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office and the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office revealed that Johnson's 810 active criminal cases were nearly equal to those assigned to District Court Judges Wendell Manning, Wilson Rambo and Stephens Winters combined. Their criminal caseload totaled 813 when the public records request was submitted Dec. 21. ..... For the full story, subscribe to the The Ouachita Citizen's NEW E-Edition!