Patricia Head Minaldi

Patricia Head Minaldi (born 1959) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. She joined the court in 2003 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. She is currently on indefinite medical leave of absence.

Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, Minaldi graduated from Wesleyan University with her Bachelor's degree in 1980 and later from Tulane University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 1983.

Following law school graduation, Minaldi was an Assistant district attorney of New Orleans from 1983 to 1986. She was an Assistant district attorney of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana from 1986 to 1996. She was a judge on the 14th Judicial District Court, Louisiana from 1996 to 2003.

Minaldi was nominated to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. by President George W. Bush on January 15, 2003 to a seat vacated by Judge James Trimble as Trimble reached senior status. Minaldi was confirmed by the Senate on May 6, 2003 on a Senate vote and received her commission on May 9, 2003.

In the summer of 2009, Minaldi dismissed the court case against a man who mailed hoax anthrax and bomb threats in the wake of 9/11.

In 2004, a federal jury convicted Stephen Michael Long on charges of threatening to use weapons of mass destruction, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in April 2009 overturned his conviction and 30-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors pushed to bring the case back to trial in 2009, but those plans could be frustrated by the dismissal from Judge Minaldi. She has not yet ruled whether prosecutors will be allowed to begin the criminal process anew against Long or whether he will be allowed to go free.

In February 2016, during voir dire in a criminal trial, Judge Minaldi failed to determine if jurors were qualified citizens and failed to deliver any preliminary instructions. At one point in the trial, Minaldi stopped the questioning of a witness discussing a computer application, because the Judge was ignorant of what was a "drop-down menu". After the public defender made a motion for curative measures, Judge Minaldi ordered the prosecutor to deliver preliminary instructions to the jury, stopping to complain to the prosecutor, “I have no idea what’s going on here. Get your act together.” After the prosecutor and public defender jointly moved for a mistrial, the District Chief Judge removed Judge Minaldi from the case and assigned it to Judge Donald Ellsworth Walter, who then declared a mistrial.

Minaldi was arrested Thursday, January 23, 2014 for having an open alcoholic beverage inside her vehicle. On February 14, 2014, Minaldi was charged with a DWI following a police investigation.

In January 2017, the Clerk of the Western District of Louuisiana confirmed that Minaldi had surrendered her entire docket of cases and had taken medical leave. It is not known exactly which day she took leave or how long it will continue. It is also unknown what circumstances compelled her to take leave.