Judge who invented Ferguson's debtor's prisons owes $170K in tax

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2015/03/06/judge-who-invented-fergusons.html

3 Likes

I’m not saying I want this guy to get doxxed, but it was aliens.

9 Likes

The photo is like a caricature of a mob boss. Gold pinkie ring? Check. Giant gold bracelet? Check. Ridiculous gold necklace? TBD…

4 Likes

No need to doxx him. Just give him taste of his own medicine.

1 Like

Britain stopped the practice of sending debtors to prison in 1869 and I thought the US even forbad it in the Constitution so how can a modern judge send someone to prison for debt?

All the people who would complain don’t have access to any recourse. Because they’re in zero-oversight prisons.

5 Likes

Becuse he was bringing in the fines and forfeitures. If they were to follow the constitution, they would lose an important source of revenue.

[quote=Page 15 of the Report]In 2012, a Ferguson City Councilmember wrote to other City officials in opposition to Judge Brockmeyer’sreappointment, stating that “[the Judge] does not listen to the testimony, does not review the reports or the criminal history of defendants, and doesn’t let all the pertinent witnesses testify before rendering a verdict.” The Councilmember then addressed the concern that “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue,” arguing that even if such a switch did “lead to a slight loss, I think it’s more important that cases are being handled properly and fairly.” The City Manager acknowledged mixed reviews of the Judge’s work but urged that the Judge be reappointed, noting that “[i]t goes without saying the City cannot afford to lose any efficiency in our Courts, nor experience any decrease in our Fines and Forfeitures.”
[/quote]

11 Likes

Ah, so the city government of Ferguson is completely corrupt.

I’d say march them all out to the Guillotine, but that’d probably make squeamish people uncomfortable.

5 Likes

Fry him. Worst kind of hypocrisy.

3 Likes

I’d like to see the manner of his perp walk.

5 Likes

No novelist or script writer in the world would get away with a stereotype like that. The truth is so far out there in this situation that it’s tipped over into farce.

9 Likes

Are there no prison
Plenty of prisons.
And the Union workhouses. Are they still in operation?
Both very busy, sir.
Those who are badly off must go there.
Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.
If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.

Even as a child, I knew this scene was supposed to be an exaggeration of Dicken’s era thought about the poor. At least Scrooge paid his taxes. Maybe not his fair share but some.

9 Likes

This happens all over the country.There are many debtors prisons. I live in Texas and I know many people who went to court for traffic fines and the judges didn’t care about their ability to pay. They said find the money or go to jail. Judge Al Cercone in Dallas, TX is one of the worst. Issues warrants left and right. Farmers Branch TX is also very bad. They have cops all over and are a well known speed trap. Their court doesn’t offer community service and their judges don’t care if you can pay. There is no other way to resolve the citation other than sitting it out. Farmers Branch TX is a small town similar to Ferguson and relies heavily on traffic citations to fund its revenue.

So much about this country is a lie. They say debtor’s prisons are outlawed. No they aren’t. In my lifetime I know many of folks who have been imprisoned because of an inability to pay a debt. America is a joke.

8 Likes

This judge is a charlatan. Plain and simple.

2 Likes

The technicality used is contempt of court.

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Should be sentenced to the same prison he sends his community to.

6 Likes

In other words, might makes right, and the job of a judge is to interpret the law to maintain the pretense that this isn’t the case.

2 Likes

I get the feeling that the Chinese would handle this kind of thing better. They actually seem to be willing to let high profile perps be made an example of, and seem to have some recognition of the consequences of ignoring high profile corruption.

5 Likes

Yup, pretty much like the purposely ambivalent “resisting arrest”.

1 Like

Not trolling, actually curious, but does that mean that in the UK you can amass all the fines you want and nothing can really be done to you?