A progressive judge has been suspended after accusing a prosecutor of targeting “all young black men” and allegedly changing a jury’s verdict and convicting a defendant of a crime that did not exist.
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to remove 19th Judicial District Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from her elected position on an interim basis — with pay — amid a formal investigation by the Louisiana Judiciary Commission. NOLA.com reports.
The court ruled that she “poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public” and said that “there does not appear to be a direct precedent for provisional disqualification under facts similar to those in the present case.”
Among those alleged transgressions, Rose once accused District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office of “systematically targeting black people.”
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to remove 19th Judicial District Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from her elected position on an interim basis.
“The young man doesn’t have any serious crimes. And I know the district attorney probably wants all black youth in prison, but I don’t,” Rose, who is black, said in a casual conversation on April 29, according to the report.
“And this case is four years old, dammit. And that’s the best they can come up with? They’re going to put all the black people in jail?”
The Louisiana Judiciary Commission has also said it was “deeply concerned that Judge Rose’s succession of clear legal errors in criminal cases, as well as her wholly inappropriate use of a despicable racial slur in court…mean that Judge Rose may pose a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or the administration of justice if she remains in office.”
Records obtained by Nola.com show she took an apologetic stance for her comments that day, but argued that her actions did not rise to the level of being marginalized.
Her lawyers described her as “exceptionally remorseful” about the comment and “the impact those statements have had on the agencies and individuals involved, the public and the judiciary as a whole.”
The court cited an incident in which it accused District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office of “systematically targeting black people.”
They said Rose “accepts full responsibility for his error of judgment in this regard, which resulted in an extreme aberration of his character.”
The judge went on to blame the intense stress caused by the media coverage, saying that at the time, she was suffering from “hair loss, anxiety and stomach complications as a result of the ongoing intense media scrutiny combined with the normal stressors” of the job.
But she questioned the commission’s claim that it was trying to force prosecutors to drop charges in the case.
However, the incident is just one of several cases in which the commission is investigating Rose, based on evidence that he committed misconduct in four separate criminal matters.
‘In another case, it was alleged and reported that after a jury found a criminal defendant not guilty, Judge Rose met with the jury and then changed the verdict to guilty, which led to the granting of a mistrial and this Honorable Court having to reverse the mistrial and reinstate the verdict of not guilty,’ the Supreme Court decision said.
In a third case, Rose allegedly imposed an illegal sentence against an aggravated arson defendant and then vacated it along with the guilty plea.
‘Finally, a newspaper article reported that in a fourth criminal case, Judge Rose initially convicted a defendant of a nonexistent misdemeanor and after being informed that the verdict was invalid, issued an acquittal.’
Court records show Rose acknowledged he performed poorly in some of those cases, but told the commission he always had good intentions.
Court records show Rose acknowledged he performed poorly in some of those cases, but told the commission he always had good intentions.
His conduct was “largely the unfortunate result of inadvertent errors, carelessness and inadvertent failures to be adequately prepared,” Rose’s attorneys wrote.
‘They were not – in any sense – the result of a deliberate disregard for their responsibilities before the judiciary, malpractice or bad faith.’
Rose’s attorney, James Clary Jr., also insisted that she would continue to cooperate in the misconduct investigation.
“We have great respect for the Supreme Court’s processes and rules,” he told Nola.com.
“At the end of this, we want to be better.”
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