Unprofessional Judge Calls Public Defender Unprofessional
Condescending judge goes viral... again.
Broward County Court Judge John Hurley is no stranger to the pages of Above the Law. A couple years back, we wrote about his critical role on Tosh.0 as the judge who handed down a pair of contempt sentences on a defendant who called Judge Hurley a “cock.” At the time we were too taken by the balls on the cock guy to consider how out-of-line Judge Hurley was. Not that the guy should have called a judge a “cock,” but 24 hours is a punishment more in line with the offense than the 120 days in jail. Four months! That’s pretty cockish behavior right there.
Now Judge Hurley is back and acting out for the cameras again because a lawyer pointed out — correctly — that the judge had just sentenced someone to jail for the “crime” of being homeless. Seriously. Judge Hurley intended to release a 57-year-old defendant without bail until the State said that the defendant was homeless, ostensibly making it more difficult for pre-trial services to track him, at which point Judge Hurley raised the bail to $1,000 — which may as well be a gazillion dollars for a homeless guy — so they could lock the guy up. You know, public defenders often complain that their clients are punished for being poor, but this time we have it all on videotape: the only thing that changed between “free to go” and “lock him up” was the fact of the defendant’s homelessness!
Oh, pre-trial services might be inconvenienced? Tough. The defendant shouldn’t suffer because y’all don’t want to do the leg work. Hell, put an ankle bracelet on him. Granted, that’s also an indignity he shouldn’t have to suffer merely for being poor but it’s a lot less of an indignity than sitting in a jail cell. But, you know, “helping pre-trial services” is a nice, neutral-sounding façade for sweeping poor people off the streets.
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This is why Assistant Public Defender Dale Miller said, “Judge, since we’re going to warehouse Mr. Ross for a while,” and Judge Hurley’s orderly conceit popped like a blood vessel in his forehead.
“Your unprofessionalism and your smart alec… sir, don’t even try,” Hurley said. “You’re taking a shot at the court, it’s unprofessional… Sir, you do this quite often. The court is really tired of it. I’ve admonished you many times. You know you’re taking a shot by saying warehousing.”
Sadly, truth is not a defense to irritating a judge.
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Normally, I’d stand up for a judge maintaining order in the courtroom, but Judge Hurley needs to reap what he’s sown. As Staci Zaretsky noted in our previous post: “Judge John Hurley of the Broward County Court presides over its first appearance division, and is known for his ‘spunk, one-liners and, on Fridays, bow ties.'” If “spunk” and “one-liners” are the first words that come to mind when describing a judge, then the “unprofessionalism” probably starts with the man in the mirror. When judges use their courtrooms to work on their f**king comedy set while sending people to jail, then is anything really contemptuous? Hasn’t the judge already undermined any sense of decorum? YouTube is littered with videos of Judge Hurley making rulings — many fairly — but always with an affected veneer of condescending smugness and faux tough guy that makes his courtroom look more like a circus than a hall of justice. And he’s the ringmaster that everyone needs to tune in to see.
But, yeah, it was the lawyer who was unprofessional. Let’s go with that.
Judge calls assistant public defender ‘unprofessional’ in bond court [Sun-Sentinel]
Earlier: Tosh.0 Gives a Rather ‘Cocky’ Defendant a Web Redemption