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History

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Payton was supposed to be Theodore. ‘Theodora’ wound up her middle name instead after she was born the youngest daughter to a family with four other girls, prompting her exasperated father (who’d long wanted a son to follow in his footsteps as a judge) to declare that “she’d have to do.” There weren’t many female judges in 1947, and there were even fewer in Louisiana, but there were enough for the senior Underwood to hope that his daughter might someday join their ranks.

Payton wanted to be an ADA after passing the bar in 1973, but sexism and a growing family to take care of slowed her career trajectory. She finally achieved that dream in 1980. After her children finished high school, she became the first female judge elected to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in 1994. She ran for the appellate courts twice, and even harbored ambitions of the Louisiana Supreme Court, but lost both elections. The defeats were disappointing at the time, but in the long run, they ceased to bother her: other women blazed the trail to those higher legal offices and Payton found she preferred the more hands-on nature of criminal cases.

After some two decades on the bench, Payton has a reputation as a severe judge who dislikes waste and has little tolerance for disrespect. She is known to impose “creative” sentences on clients for whom a $200 fee or several more days in jail would be a slap on the wrist, and likewise prefers to sentence the affluent to community service over monetary fines they could easily afford. She only grudgingly relents from jail time, for it is many of those same individuals who’ve helped fund her election campaigns, along with a police force that appreciates her “tough on crime” attitude.

Due to her age, Payton’s last election was the final one for which she was eligible to run. After she retires, she looks forward to spending her remaining years playing with her granddaughter Lilly and her great-granddaughter Lucy, gardening at her old family home in the Lower Garden District, and probably doing some part-time private practice on the side.

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Influence

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Allies

Payton has been a respected member of New Orleans’ legal community for 40-some years and knows a variety of lawyers and judges. She sometimes grades exams for the Louisiana State Bar.

Payton is on good terms with many local police, who she’s had cause to work closely with over her long career, and was close to Richard Gettis before his psychotic break and untimely death in late 2015.

Payton also volunteers as an assistant coach and (debate) judge for the debate team at the McGehee School for Girls, her own alma mater. The parents there are grateful for her work.

Relationships

At work, Payton gets along well with Carson Malveaux, the chief judge for OPCDC, though she takes a dimmer view of Richard Boner’s sense of humor.

Among her immediate family, Payton is closest to her daughter Prudence. She doesn’t approve of the younger woman’s marital situation, but respects her commitment not to simply seek an annulment for a stand-in divorce like so many Catholics do. She talks semi-regularly with her son Stan, who lives beyond the city. She is on non-speaking terms with her daughter Diana since she became pregnant at 17. The pair’s relationship never recovered from the fighting over that.

Among her grandchildren, Payton is most active in the lives of Celia, David, and Lily. She is proud of David for pursuing a legal career and Celia for her running a successful business. She finds less in common with Logan and Sophia, and hasn’t spoken with Isabel since she left Louisiana in 2009. She sees her great-granddaughter Lucy on a semi-regular basis.

Status

Payton is a judge on the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. It’s certainly less prestigious than if she’d succeeded at her ambitions to join the Supreme Court, but her decisions have more immediate impacts on people’s lives. (OPCDC Status •••)

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Recent Events

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GM’s Note: Trivial spoilers for the adventure logs follow in Story One. Larger spoilers follow in Stories Three and beyond.

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Genealogy

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• 1. William Andrews (b. 1906, d. 1974) + Marie Andrews (née Freneau) (b. 1907, d. 1982)
　• 2. Doris Andrews (b. 1932, d. 1955) + (unknown father)
　　• 3. Douglas Andrews (b. 1955) + Bianca Andrews (b. 1964, d. 1992)
　　　• 4. Natalie Andrews (b. 1992)
　• 2. Judy Caldwell (née Andrews) (b. 1936, d. 2008) + James Caldwell (b. 1933, d. 2007)
　　• 3+. (The Caldwell family)
　• 2. Beverly Collins (née Andrews) (b. 1939) + Mark Collins (b. 1936, d. 2014)
　　• 3+. (The Collins family)
　• 2. Kathleen Andrews (b. 1942, d. 1973)
　• 2. Payton T. Underwood (née Andrews) (b. 1947) + Timothy Underwood (b. 1947, d. 1988)
　　• 3. Stanton Underwood (b. 1972)
　　• 3. Diana Flores (née Underwood) (b. 1973) + Maxen Flores (b. 1972)
　　　• 4. Emily Rosure (b. 1988, adopted in 2009 by Diana)
　　　• 4. Celia Flores (b. 1989) + (unknown father)
　　　　• 5. Lucy Flores (b. 2010)
　　　• 4. Isabel Flores (b. 1991)
　　　• 4. David Flores (b. 1993)
　　　• 4. Sophia Flores (b. 1994)
　　　• 4. Logan Flores (b. 1997)
　　• 3. Prudence Bellamy (née Underwood) (b. 1975) + Norland Bellamy (b. 1974)
　　　• 4. Lilly Bellamy (b. 2005)