Term Ends: 2026
Party: R
Judge Lowell C. “Chris” Hazel currently serves as Judge of Division B on the criminal docket.
Judge Hazel graduated from Holy Cross School in New Orleans and joined the United States Marine Corps where he served as an infantryman at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 29 Palms, California. In 1990, he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of New Orleans in Political Science. Judge Hazel served as an LBJ Intern on Capitol Hill for Congresswoman Lindy Boggs. He then graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico and was employed as a border patrol agent at Chula Vista Station, San Diego, California from 1992-1997. In 2000, he received his Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.
Judge Hazel started his legal career working as a law clerk for Ninth Judicial District Judge Thomas M. Yeager in Alexandria. He then went on to work as an assistant district attorney in both the Grant Parish and Rapides Parish District Attorneys’ Offices. In 2007, Judge Hazel was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives where he served two and three quarter terms as a state representative for the 27th Legislative District for the State of Louisiana before being elected a district court judge in December of 2018.
Judge Hazel is married to Karen Centanni Hazel and has two children, Sydney and Brik.