Posted on 10/06/2010 7:59:47 PM PDT by Justaham
A black judge from western Pennsylvania rejected a plea agreement for a man accused of fighting with police during a traffic stop, saying it was "a ridiculous plea that only goes to white boys."
The plea agreement was for a sentence of three months probation. Allegheny County Judge Joseph Williams said on Tuesday that a black defendant in that situation would not have been treated as leniently.
In court, Williams told Assistant District Attorney Brian Catanzarite that he "for some reason comes up with I think ridiculous pleas whenever it's a young white guy," according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I'm just telling you what my observation is. If this had been a black kid who did the same thing, we wouldn't be talking about three months' probation."
Catanzarite responded that he was standing in for another prosecutor and didn't broker the plea deal.
"Now that the court has essentially called me a racist, I think that's unfair. I don't make offers based on race. I make offers based on facts," Catanzarite said, according to the Tribune-Review.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Bump for later.
The things you see when ya ain’t got yer log chain.
I did some checking, and it looks like Williams was nominated by Governor Rendell and confirmed by the PA state Senate back in 2008.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08282/918275-100.stm
“One new judge is Judith F. Olson, 50, of Franklin Park, who chairs the antitrust practice group of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. The other is Joseph K. Williams III, who was born and raised in Manchester and still has his office there.
Both were nominated by Gov. Ed Rendell. Ms. Olson was recommended by Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and Mr. Williams was sponsored by Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park.”
From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.
I can tell you the part time law clerk’s observations are exactly inverse in some jurisdictions, where black defendants are clearly career criminals, and sometimes violent ones, who have spent only a few months in custody.
There often IS a disparity in outcomes between comparable offenses, usually to the disadvantage of the black defendants. This is often due to the quality of legal counsel they had, and poor whites will have fared just as badly.
ROTFLMAO !
Aint that the truth.....
Yeah, you shoulda been in first calling the court racist
I am with you on this. The judge may have been less than tactful and possibly coming from an emotional, instead of a rational place, but in my area, I have seen so many people (generally white, often middle class, but even lower class) skate on crimes when they should have served even some time. My dad and I both are conservative, but both served on juries where the black defendent was being charged with a felony: one was for a domestic abuse, where the case wasn’t clear-cut (she was also fighting him and admitted as much, had broken up with him and didn’t want anything to do with the case), and the other was for a minor SHOPLIFTING (!!) where the guy happened to tell the guard he was going to punch him. This turned it into a felony.
In the meantime, my spousal abuser was allowed a deferred prosecution, so he has a completely clear record, and there were independent witnesses to his actions! I also know of drug dealers who have been caught with major amounts in their cars, who get work release or deferred prosecutions, and end up with the charges dropped or lowered. So, the dude who stole shrimp drunk goes to prison but the guy selling meth and oxy gets a clean record after 2 years of probation?
Why bother! The Judge will wake up tomorrow and every other day and will always be black.
Was the bigot voted in or appointed?
*****
I do not know. Google it, I guess for an answer. Please share what you find. Thanks.
All you have to do is spend a day or so in a courtroom to know that what this judge said is true. Not all the time, certainly, but generally, 90%, true.
Not that I think he should have said as much from the bench of course. He probably was just having a bad day.
Hate judge committing hate crimes.
Tell the judge his lawyer was looking to prevent a hate crime by not sending a white guy to prison-where he’ll surely be raped by black guys.
For all the White defendants who did not get pro or minimum sentences, let the appeals begin!
This so-called judge is a black guy first and a judge second, which means he stinks at both.
It absolutely turns my stomach.
“Both were nominated by Gov. Ed Rendell. Ms. Olson was recommended by Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and Mr. Williams was sponsored by Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park.”
“If this had been a black kid who did the same thing, we wouldn’t be talking about three months’ probation.””
No because the cop would be dead.
Was the bigot voted in or appointed?
*************
2 confirmed as Allegheny County judges
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG — The state Senate voted yesterday to confirm a lawyer from Franklin Park and another from Manchester to fill two vacancies on Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
One new judge is Judith F. Olson, 50, of Franklin Park, who chairs the antitrust practice group of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. The other is Joseph K. Williams III, who was born and raised in Manchester and still has his office there.
Both were nominated by Gov. Ed Rendell. Ms. Olson was recommended by Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and Mr. Williams was sponsored by Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park.
Ms. Olson has a bachelor’s degree from St. Francis University of Loretto and a law degree from Duquesne University. Mr. Williams has a bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a law degree from Duquesne.
“I’ve thought about becoming a judge for several years, but the opportunity came up at the end of the summer,’’ Ms. Olson said in a brief interview here yesterday.
A judicial merit selection committee organized by Ms. Orie two weeks ago recommended Ms. Olson for the Common Pleas post. She once worked as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. and formerly worked at Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote.
Mr. Williams served on the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority from 2001 to 2004. He has served on the boards of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, the Negro Education Emergency Drive and the NAACP.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08282/918275-100.stm#ixzz11ipwWb3V
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