Frank Polozola

Frank Joseph Polozola (January 15, 1942 – February 24, 2013) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Polozola received an LL.B. in 1965 from Louisiana State University Law School. He was a law clerk of Judge Elmer Gordon West of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana from 1965 to 1966. He was in private practice in Baton Rouge from 1966 to 1973. He began teaching in 1977 at the Louisiana State University Law Center.

On April 2, 1980, Polozola was appointed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to the position vacated by his former mentor, Judge West. Polozola was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 21, 1980, and received his commission two days later. In September 1980, Polozola presided over the racketeering and extortion trial of former Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Gil Dozier of Baton Rouge. When Dozier was found to have engaged in jury tampering in his original trial while on bond, Polozola added eight years to the original ten-year sentence. In 1984, Dozier's term was commuted to the two years and two months served by Carter's successor as president, Ronald W. Reagan, despite Judge Polozola's opposition to the clemency.

Judge Polozoa presided over the sentencing of Barry Seal, who was murdered less than two months later. In December 1984, Seal was arrested in Louisiana for flying a cargo of marijuana into the state. Judge Polozola was furious at being powerless to put Seal away due to his previous deal with the government. Polozola on December 20, 1985, invoked the sentence handed down by a Florida judge and sentenced Seal to six months supervised probation, taking the occasion to say that people like Seal were “the lowest, most despicable people I can think of.” A condition of the sentence was that he had to spend every night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., at the Salvation Army halfway house on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge. Polozola further stipulated that Seal could not carry a gun or hire armed bodyguards. Seal’s attorney, Lewis Unglesby, told Polozola his ruling amounted to a death sentence for his client. Seal told friends that the judge “made me a clay pigeon.” At 6 p.m. on February 19, 1986, Seal promptly drove up to the Salvation Army in his white Cadillac. As he parked his car, he was approached by a man carrying an automatic weapon. Two quick bursts riddled Seal’s head and chest, killing him instantly.

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