Judge of the Day: Jerk Chicken Judge

Way back in the day — I’m thinking circa 1,000 AD — most problems could be solved through an exchange of food. It was a simpler time when disputes were settled without interrogatories, and transgressors made restitution with meat and mead.
With that in mind, I applaud Joliet Judge Robert Livas and his truly old-school sentence. The Chicago Tribune reports:

The local legal community has been abuzz since Associate Judge Robert Livas accepted the Jamaican-style chicken from Darrius Logan this month over an objection from a prosecutor. Logan, 24, pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor battery and criminal trespass charges after an incident in Joliet.

Yumyumyum.
Rivas now claims he didn’t intend to convert Logan’s community service sentence into a chicken run. But I bet his court staffers are happy with the result.
More details after the jump.


Judge Livas says he made a bad joke that Logan took literally:

Logan told the judge in August he performed his community service by working 100 unpaid hours at Uncle Joe’s Jerk Chicken, a popular Jamaican restaurant chain on Chicago’s South Side. According to court transcripts, the judge told Logan to return in two months with either proof that he had completed the service hours elsewhere or with enough spiced chicken to feed the courtroom.
Livas said he was surprised Oct. 6 when Logan carried in a tray of Uncle Joe’s jerk chicken, bread and two sides of hot sauce. …
Livas, a former prosecutor and Chicago police officer, said it was simply a joke gone awry.
“A defendant took something I said as a joke literally,” Livas said. “It forced me to keep my word and accept his original (community service) letter. I give him credit — he made me eat my words.

Was Logan being obtuse, or does the fault lie with Livas?
But let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story. Is there anything inherently wrong with non-traditional methods of community service? Some people have special skills or special access. Can they not benefit the community (however defined) in ways other than picking up trash in a park? Couldn’t some people be sentenced to 100 hours of SAT tutoring for low income students, while others have to coach a little league baseball team for a season?
I’m just saying, sometimes the old ways — the really old ways — were best. Logan had the ability to furnish an entire courtroom with a fine meal. What’s wrong with that?
Court accepts barbecue chicken instead of community service [Chicago Tribune]

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