Posted on 10/26/2006 6:51:19 AM PDT by Sleeping Freeper
Utah deer hunters have a new target in their sights: 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis. Leslie Lewis Members of the hunting community have started a grass-roots campaign to oust Lewis after she ordered that a defendant's brother be arrested for expressing displeasure with her views on hunting during a hearing last February. Opponents have launched a Web site, www.firejudgelewis.com, that contains a link to the in-court video of the February episode, which has been posted on the Web site YouTube. The posting is one of the first instances of Internet campaigning being used in a judicial election in Utah. "She thinks she's God in her courtroom," said hunting advocate Tony Abbott, who hosts The Big Outdoors, a local radio show on KFAN AM1320.
Transcript of video posted on YouTube of a courtroom confrontation involving 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis on Feb. 24, 2006. Judge Lewis: "I have a prejudice concerning deer hunters and people who kill deer and transport deer that have been shot ... (cut in tape) Have you ever actually looked at a deer when they're alive?" Michael Jacobson: "Uh, huh." Lewis: "And it doesn't bother you that you can see its heart beating?" (pause) "I'm asking you a question, I expect an answer." Michael Jacobson: "Yeah." Lewis: "Were you starving? Did you need the meat?" Michael Jacobson: "I wasn't the one that shot the animal." .....
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
Transcript of video posted on YouTube of a courtroom confrontation involving 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis on Feb. 24, 2006.
Judge Lewis: "I have a prejudice concerning deer hunters and people who kill deer and transport deer that have been shot ... (cut in tape) Have you ever actually looked at a deer when they're alive?"
Michael Jacobson: "Uh, huh."
Lewis: "And it doesn't bother you that you can see its heart beating?" (pause) "I'm asking you a question, I expect an answer."
Michael Jacobson: "Yeah."
Lewis: "Were you starving? Did you need the meat?"
Michael Jacobson: "I wasn't the one that shot the animal."
Lewis: "Would you have stopped your friend?"
Michael Jacobson: "Nope, I wasn't there at all."
(cut in tape)
Lewis: "Our minute entry will just indicate that. Are we boring you?" (Judge directs comment to man walking out of courtroom.)
(Judge asks a bailiff to go out and bring back Kent Jacobson before her.)
Lewis: "Now, why did you feel the need to make such an explosive and clear indication of your displeasure or boredom at being here?"
Kent Jacobson: "OK, it's not just the displeasure of being bored here. The problem is, is we have just as much rights of going out and shooting deer as you have the right ... (interrupted)."
Lewis: "What are you talking about?"
Kent Jacobson: "Well, it was your disregard of what you said ... (interrupted)."
Lewis: "Put him in custody. I'm not going to argue with you, and you have no business chastising me, sir, and I did not make a comment that you have any right to correct. What I said is I had strong feelings and consequently was recusing myself ... .(interrupted) ... I don't want to hear a word from you. You and I are not in the same position, we're not having a dialogue."
Kent Jacobson (While being led in handcuffs): "I didn't say anything. I got up and walked out."
Lewis: "After making a large explosive indication of your displeasure at being here and when I asked if you were bored you said, 'Yes.' (To bailiff.) Take him back, I don't want to look at him."
Kent Jacobson (mumbling): "I was bored."
Lewis: "You're bored? Let's see how you feel in the holding cell. ... That's a first."
Wow, he had the audacity to leave the courtroom while God Almighty in Black Robes was talking. What a criminal. If this crap keeps up, the "awkward stage" will be over pretty soon.
This so called judge is a joke. Who the hell cares if she has displeasure with hunting? Her PERSONAL views are not in play EVER during a trial. She is to make sure the LAW is applied and followed.
As for the revival of TAR AND FEATHERS,
This dingbat is a suitable case for treatment!!
Remove this judge pronto. She's way too full of herself.
She doesn’t like people shooting deer but, just a wild guess, she’s in favor of killing babies in the womb. Am I right?
The Judge is a Moron.
that being said...what exactly did the original 'perp' do? Protected species how? was it out of season? Deer are generaly plentiful across this land, I shoot them myself early and often.
These questions are not intented to back the judge.....she should be gone. She is a POS, liberal, bambi lovin', tree hugger who feels she must foist her own sick opinion on the world...
...but what was the exact charge against this guy?
prejudice:an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge
The Judge ADMITTED judging before all the facts were in?
SEESH, She's stupid too.
This is really awful. A judge has just as much right to her own opinions and strong feelings as anyone else, but those personal prejudices have no place being expressed in the courtroom. Her job is to follow the law and keep the courtroom in a professional order. She apparently feels that the courtroom is a personal soapbox from which she can impose her own "law" and punish anyone who disagrees. Such brazen prejudice coming from a judge is inexcusable. She should save her indignation for murderers and child abusers; those acts are illegal, and deer hunting is not. Neither is leaving the courtroom of a buffoon.
Don't understand the reaction here; if you show the audacity to question a judge, show disrespect or disapproval for the justice system in any courtroom, you will generally be charged with contempt of court. I agree that the awkward time is nearly past, but my point is that from my experience, such behavior is the norm in the modern American courtroom, not just this one looney judge.
"This is really awful. A judge has just as much right to her own opinions and strong feelings as anyone else, but those personal prejudices have no place being expressed in the courtroom."
Well, she did say she was going to recuse herself from the case while she was throwing her tantrum.
I would agree in most cases. However, the judge basically baited this guy into the response. She asked him a question that had nothing to do with legal proceedings, he answered honestly, and because she didn't like his answer, she threw him into a holding cell? That is a gross abuse of judicial power.
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