Black Judge Refuses Plea Deal for "White Boy"

What happened to 'Justice is blind'?

 

... and with that, race realtions in the USA take another giant step backwards. Way to go judge.

 

Neither quote in the body text of The Root or the linked Pittsburgh Tribune articles cites the judge as using the term "white boys" - his phrasing is quoted thus (from the Pitts Trib):

That said, if there's a propensity for biased plea-bargaining in that judiciary then it needs root & branch sorting. A need, I suspect, that the inflammatory reporting by both journals will have done no favours for.

Pete.

 

Am I confused as to what Dr Cheese meant yesterday?

 

With the circumstances given, both parties are being racist. That is a ridiculous reason to deny a plea bargain, and if the prosecution was only offering whites deals, then the judge should've done something other than just throw a white person in jail to protest it.

He is a judge and all, its not like he doesn't know any better.

 

I'm no lawyer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but this raises a number of question to me. First, if what the judge is claiming is true (unequal pleas based on race), and he's obviously aware of it, one would assume there would be a way for him to file a complaint about it (Bar Association or some such vehicle). I wonder if he's ever made such a complaint.

Secondly, again with no first hand knowledge, if the prosecutor is making unequal plea requests, does the judge not have the ability to not accept the plea agreement? If so, does the judge have some record that could be brought forth showing how many times he's had to deny unfair pleas?

It sounds, to me at least, more like a personal issue between the judge and prosecutor. Again, if what he claims is true, you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to substantiate.

 

Sorry, I was referring to this statement explicitly:

It seemed to me that this thread is about conflict between black/white persons in terms of access to justice. If that's not what you meant when you said that yesterday, that's fine, but clearly the words "black/white..interaction" can be interpretted pretty broadly.

Personally, I'd rather you keep posting the threads. It lets me know where people stand on these types of issues.

 

But that is exactly what this is. "White boy" making "Black Judge" make bad decisions based on race. Doesn't matter the reversal of power in the ethnic roles...sounds equally vindictive. It's wrong, and just as much an abuse of power...

 

no, there's no entitlement there, but you yourself implied that race weighed on the decision...

 

IMO, race should NEVER be a basis on why a decision is made. NEVER! If it is, who ever made that decision shouldn't be in a place to make decisions, especially on another person's fate.