Lord knows where his tongue has been.
— A remark allegedly made by retired Judge David Downing of the Riverside County Superior Court in California during jury selection for the murder trial of Kaushal Niroula. Niroula, who is gay and HIV-positive, represented himself pro se. Downing was recorded by Niroula’s co-defendant on a laptop microphone when he allegedly stated that he didn’t read Niroula’s motions for fear of catching HIV, as Niroula had licked closed the envelopes that contained them. Downing now says that while he did, in fact, read all of Niroula’s motions, he can’t remember if he made the offensive comment.
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Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.