By Raul Hernandez
One of the robed clowns believed he could order a sheriff’s deputy to light up a defendant using a taser because the defendant kept reading a prepared statement in court and wouldn’t stop.
Wrong.
Last week, former Judge Robert Nalley plead guilty in federal court to violating Delvon Louis King’s constitutional rights and will be sentenced in March.
He is no longer a judge. He had been on the bench from 1988 to September 2014.
I posted the story about the incident.
The 2014 incident involving Nalley came to light when the Baltimore Examiner newspaper wrote a story about the incident.
Nalley was removed from the bench effective Sept. 12, 2014 after a decision nine days earlier by the Maryland Court of Appeals. The Maryland Office of the Public Defender took the case to the appeals court in August 2014.
The feds got wind of Nalley’s decision and began an investigation.
This is what happened, according to federal authorities:
Before the proceedings began, a deputy sheriff informed Judge Nalley that King was wearing a stun-cuff. Nalley was aware that when activated, the stun-cuff would administer an electrical shock to the victim, thereby incapacitating him and causing him pain, according to officials.
Several minutes after the proceedings had begun, Judge Nalley asked the victim whether he had any questions for the potential jurors.
The victim repeatedly ignored Nalley and instead read from a prepared statement, objecting to Judge Nalley’s authority to preside over the proceedings, while standing calmly behind a table in the courtroom, officials said.
The victim did not make any aggressive movements, did not attempt to flee the courtroom and did not pose a threat to himself or to any other person at any point during the proceedings, according to authorities.
Judge Nalley twice ordered the victim to stop reading his statement, but the victim continued to speak.
Judge Nalley then ordered the deputy sheriff to activate the stun-cuff, which administered an electric shock to the victim for approximately five seconds. The electric shock caused the victim to fall to the ground and scream in pain, according to officials.
Judge Nalley recessed the proceedings.
King, who is in his mid-twenties, was facing three gun charges and acting as his own attorney before Nalley during jury selection.
The feds’ message to judges and others is this, according to prosecutors:
“Under our constitution, judges serve as the guardians and arbitrators of justice,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “When government officials – including judges – violate the rights we entrust them to defend and break the laws we expect them to uphold, they undermine the legitimacy of our justice system.”
Ninety percent of the federal, state and local judges who I have watched preside over civil or criminal cases have conducted themselves with integrity and judicial professionalism. I have covered local, state and federal courts for more than 18 years, including 11 years in El Paso, which has one of the busiest federal courts in the nation.
Then, there are other judges who are disgraceful or dishonest or unscrupulous.
The TV personalities like Judge Judy would have been bounced out of most courthouses because of their rude, crude, loud and obnoxious behavior.
Many in the public also believe that this is what happens in courtrooms or buy into what they see in the movies like “The Verdict” with Paul Newman or “The Rainmaker” with Matt Damien.
That’s not day-to-day reality.
Most of the time, it’s boring. But the atmosphere can become explosive, especially in murder or rape trials or hearings or other cases involving violent crimes. On the civil side, family law court can erupt with heated arguments and violence because this is the place where angry adults are parting company and are fighting over the kids, dogs, dining-room sets and silverware.
Reporting Bad Judges
What can people do if a judge is rude, shouting, crass or unprofessional?
In most states like California, people can go online and file a complaint with the Commission of Judicial Performance. But the commission rules are clear, just because a person doesn’t like a judge’s ruling, isn’t a reason to file. That’s why there are appeals courts to appeal a judge’s or jury’s decision.
If a judge is in the courtroom is cursing or shouting at defendants or victims, being rude and obnoxious or are making crude remarks or acting in an unprofessional manner, you can go online or write to your state’s judicial conduct commission.
By the same token, never be disrespectful or use profanity or become angry if you appear in court. Make sure you get a copy of the court record. In misdemeanor cases, most courts record the proceedings.
If you file a complaint with your state’s Judicial Performance Commission, good luck if it’s like the one in California.
The Los Angeles Times reported last year that California has about 1,800 judges, and generally fewer than 50 each year receive some form of reprimand.
UC Berkeley law professor Christopher Kutz told the Times a judge’s conduct must be extreme before the system metes out discipline.
“Certainly,” Kutz said, judges disparage lawyers and litigants “much more often than the number of disciplinary cases would suggest. There is a lot of latitude for judicial misbehavior.”
These are some of the complaints that were reported to the commission, according to the Los Angeles Times report: “Two judges had sex with women in their chambers, one with his former law students, the other with his court clerk.”
“A traffic court judge delegated his job to his clerk. While the judge was in chambers, the clerk heard pleas and imposed sentences,” according to the newspaper.
A family law court judge excoriated two parents who appeared before him as “rotten” and the mother a “train wreck” and a “liar.”
Letters, Social Media and FBI
If a judge’s conduct is outrageous, write a letter to the senior judge of the courthouse send copies to newspaper editors and go on social media and posts the allegations, cite times, dates, places and the names of witnesses.
In addition, write to state or federal representatives about the incident.
Also call newspapers’ newsrooms, speak to the city editors and let them know what happened.
People should contact the FBI if the conduct involves a judge using or ordering the use of force against a defendant who isn’t a threat to the judge or others in the courtroom.
North Korea Launches
North Korea under a paranoid and vile dictator, Kim Jong-un, launched a missile and will soon have the capability of developing one that can reach the West Coast, and the networks are covering the political horse races in Iowa and New Hamphire 24/7, parsing, analyzing and dissecting the words of the candidates.
Desperate to find some hidden meaning, word out of place, some nuance or body language that will help explain to voters through wild speculation what the candidates are really trying to say, trying to do.
Meanwhile, if North Korea launches a nuclear missile at South Korea or U.S., all the political jingoism and posturing will be meaningless.
But the networks believe that nation needs to know where Trump’s circus will be performing next so we can all be amused by the entertainment, heckling and booing.
It’s good for TV ratings.