State prosecutors cited 19th Judicial District Judge Gail Horne Ray’s past rulings and the defendant’s decision to waive a jury in lobbying for her removal Wednesday from an upcoming trial in the Madison Brooks rape case.

Ray has presided over two of the three defendants in the case for the past two years, and she currently is set to determine one defendant's guilt or innocence in an upcoming bench trial.

Brooks was a 19-year-old LSU sophomore who died early the morning of Jan. 15, 2023, after a night of heavy drinking in Tigerland. She was allegedly raped in a car before being dropped off in a subdivision and fatally struck by a vehicle.

Prosecutors said Ray has seen too much pretrial evidence about Brooks’ sexual history. But when prosecutors cited the fact that Ray, a longtime defe

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