Court Opinion

ID: 9525853
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:08:54.729777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:17:18.565076
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WOLFSON, dissenting: I do not see how the administration of justice is brought into disrepute when a slightly deranged, barely literate African-American defendant, who has just received a three-year sentence, writes several documents which contain the "unmistakable gist” of an accusation that the white judge is a racist. Certainly, calling anyone a racist is not a kind thing to do. A racist is someone who believes his own race is superior. But why would we expect a convicted defendant to say kind things about the sentencing judge? I have seen worse things said about judges of this court in petitions for rehearing. It is not as if the defendant shouted the accusation from the well of the courtroom or the courthouse rooftop. It was on pieces of paper, which the trial judge was free to ignore. Judges are supposed to be a hardy breed. I think this is a case of judicial thin skin. I would reverse.