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About Matthew Belser, District Judge Div L
Matthew S. Belser has served as an Assistant District Attorney in and for the Parishes of Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa for the past fourteen (14) years. Throughout his career Belser has utilized a “victim-first” approach to prosecution and victim’s assistance. He also has the rare distinction of having handled both criminal and juvenile cases in all three parishes and in both Denham Springs and Hammond City Court.
Belser was born in Hammond and raised in the pastureland of north St. Helena Parish. He is the son of Mary Jo and Bobby Belser, and the grandson of Myrtle and Edwin Smith and Barbara and Dr. Bob Belser. Belser attended Oak Forest Academy (K-12th grade) in Amite, graduating in 2000. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Louisiana State University in 2004 and his Juris Doctorate from Southern University Law Center in 2007. In 2007, he also became a published legal scholar with a law review article on the state and national emergency response to Hurricane Katrina. In 2023, while continuing to serve as a prosecutor, Belser earned his Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Boston University, advancing his knowledge of criminal behavior and the effects of trauma.
Belser served as judicial law clerk for the Honorable Brenda Bedsole Ricks with the 21st Judicial District Court from 2007 until he began his prosecution career in 2010. Belser also assisted other judges of the 21st JDC, along with any ad hoc judges appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court. During his tenure as a judicial law clerk, Belser participated in over a dozen civil and criminal jury trials - including such high profile cases as the trial of Mark Lewis for the murder of 13-year-old Kaitlyn Aydell, the trial of Christopher Pell for the murder of his wife at the Popeye's in Walker, and the trial of Austin "Trey" Bernard for his involvement with the Hosanna Church sexual abuse involving several children, including his own. Belser also assisted in the handling of family law cases assigned to Judge Ricks. This experience allowed Belser to obtain unique trial and courtroom experience from a judicial perspective and allowed him to better understand the inner-workings of the judicial system and its various people involved in its operations.
In his capacity as Assistant District Attorney, Belser has prosecuted and advocated for the rights of victims in thousands of criminal cases, both felonies and misdemeanors, complex and simple, and has specialized in the prosecution of crimes against children. Belser has also represented the DA’s office in handling child-in-need-of-care and delinquency proceedings in juvenile court. Belser began his career at the District Attorney’s Office in Livingston Parish until he was transferred to Tangipahoa Parish in July 2017.
In 2012, Belser was named child sexual assault legal advisor. In this role Belser has received extensive and specialized training on crimes involving children and trauma-informed care. Belser has worked extensively with law enforcement and child protections agencies, the Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) task force, and the Human Trafficking task force to bring justice for the most vulnerable in our society. He has provided leadership and trainings to the multi-disciplinary teams tasked with overseeing the investigations and prosecutions of crimes against children in the tri-parish area. He has specifically provided regional trainings on both child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, and child fatality investigations and prosecutions alongside other subject matter experts, including the forensic child pediatricians of the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center of Children’s Hospital, New Orleans. More recently, Belser presented at the American Professional Society against the Abuse of Children’s 2024 Colloquium on child sexual abuse among religious organizations.
In 2016 he received statewide recognition as “MDT Member of the Year” for his efforts by the Child Advocacy Centers and CASA Programs of Louisiana. Belser has regularly provided leadership and training to the multi-disciplinary team, helping to improve child abuse investigations and team collaboration. His trauma informed approach adds to the healing process of survivors. In 2023 Belser began consulting with Zero Abuse Project as a subject matter expert to prepare and review curriculum to train professional and graduate students to better handle child abuse cases. In 2024 Belser proposed legislation to add further confidentiality protections to child forensic interviews. Working with Rep. Kim Coates and other key legislative leaders, the Louisiana Alliance of Child Advocacy Centers and the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, House Bill 443 unanimously passed both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Landry on June 18 of this year.
Belser is currently admitted to the bar for the State of Louisiana and the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Middle District of Louisiana. He is also a member of the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, the National District Attorney’s Association, the Federalist Society, the National Rifle Association, the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and End Violence against Women International.
In addition to his duties as a prosecutor, Belser served as an adjunct instructor of criminal justice for Northshore Technical Community College between 2016 and 2019. Following the August 2016 flood, when criminal justice students at Live Oak High School were prevented from attending classes with the Literacy & Technology Center in Walker, Live Oak High School enabled these students to complete their studies through Northshore. Even though they were several weeks behind in the course, Belser volunteered his time to help the students catch up by teaching them at Live Oak High School in person.
Belser has continued to show his dedication to students by regularly participated in the TRACC Coalition’s annual Alive to Drive program, which aims to teach students the dangers and consequences of driving under the influence. He has spoken to students about the legal field and the role of prosecutors at Walker High School, the Livingston Parish Literacy Center, and Denham Springs High School. He has also helped local students prepare for mock trial competitions, including students from Loranger High School who won regional mock trial competition in 2020. All of this experience has instilled in him a love for teaching, which he hopes to continue even as judge.
Belser is a firm believer in the drug court and veteran’s court programs. In 2019, he was asked to speak at the drug court graduation in Amite. As judge, he will continue to support these remarkable programs. Belser also will work with his colleagues to help develop and obtain the funding for other specialty courts. Belser firmly believes that the purpose of the criminal justice system is to work to prevent and reduce crime in our community. In order to do that the system must work harder and smarter to address the root causes of crime, such as drug addiction and mental health, while at the same time holding individuals accountable for their actions.
Belser currently lives in Denham Springs, LA and is a member of the Way Church of Denham Springs, where he has served as a teaching and preaching elder for the last ten years. Belser also serves on the Advisory Council for the Christian Men’s/Women’s Job Corps, a ministry of the Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association. As an ordained preacher, he continues to advocate to his community about preventing child abuse and how to keep families safe. In 2023, he developed comprehensive child protection policies for his church, which has been shared with other churches throughout the state.
The judges of the 21st Judicial District have expressed the need that this new division of court be assigned criminal and juvenile cases – a need to which Belser is wholeheartedly committed. According to Belser, protecting children and other vulnerable members of our society has been one of the driving passion of his career. Juvenile proceedings have become a highly specialized area of law, with a highly nuanced children’s code, along with numerous other federal laws and guidelines, that must be followed. This new judgeship requires the right person with the right experience and skills. There can be no doubt that Belser is the right man for the job.
As for his judicial philosophy, Belser believes that a judge should possess three essential qualities. He or she should be respected for having superior knowledge of the law, wisdom to deal with complex and sometime convoluted case, and for having the right temperament. In our adversarial system, a judge should be a calming influence when emotions flair and should be a careful and deliberate listener to avoid rash decisions and rushes to judgment. Belser has earned the respect of his colleagues and his community regarding each of these, which is why he is the most qualified candidate to be your next district court judge.