I have repeatedly written against the use of shaming and novel sentencing by judges around the country (here and here and here). Judges often thrill the public by imposing their own forms of justices — departing from conventional criminal sentences to force people to clean courtrooms with toothbrushes, wear demeaning placards, or carry out publicly humiliating tasks. These judges often develop a taste for such power and the public acclaim that unfortunately comes from humiliating people. Cleveland Municipal Judge Pinkey Carr is a case in point. Carr garnered clearly welcomed public attention by requiring a woman to wear a sign to punish her for reckless driving near a school bus. Now, Carr has taken to making such placards herself and, when citizens do not comply as marionettes, throwing them in jail. Such is the case with Richard Dameron who refused to carry an “idiot” sign hand crafted by Carr. In the hearing, Carr appropriately compared herself to the Burger King of the justice system.
Dameron had threatened police in a 911 call. Carr decided to mete out her own justice and, over memorial weekend, she personally made a sign including the statement “I apologize to Officer Simone and all police officers for being an idiot calling 911 and threatening to kill you. It will never happen again.” It must have been a laugh for Carr and her family and friends over the holiday, but Dameron did not comply. Carr then thew him in jail for not carrying the sign that she worked so hard on and ruled that, if he did not wear her sign, he could do “another 90 days.” If Ohio has any credible system of judicial ethics, Carr would be off the bench in that time.
Notably, Dameron does not appear unwilling to be the puppet for Carr and insists that he didn’t have transportation to the station. He would be better off standing up to Carr and challenging her abuse of power.
By the way, Carr reached the 90 days with the same lack of judicial temperament as the sentencing itself. She is quoted as saying “I was thinking of making it 30 or 60 but since you said you can do 90, 90 it will be. I’m like Burger King. You can have it your way.” Perhaps, but when it comes to justice, she has it her peculiar way.
Source: ABA
RE: itchinBayDog’s comment:
I can certainly provide some suggestions from my jurisdiction. 🙂
You have featured one bad woman judge after another on this blog for the past week. How about picking on some dumb men judges? Are you suggesting that women are unfit to be judges?
Thanks, Christine, for pointing that out. I fret over my little FB page; I can’t imagine having a public forum and repeatedly seeing errors.
I am a great admirer of Jonathan Turley, but find it extremely distracting when these columns aren’t properly proofread – it is jarring, and detracts from the message:
IT SHOULD BE:
either – clean a courtroom OR clean courtrooms
either – being a reckless driver OR reckless driving
either – choose to not comply as marionettes OR do not comply as marionettes
I’ve found this in many other posts. I look forward to reading columns that have been properly proofread — I KNOW you’re a careful writer, so corrections are in order.
Pinkey Carr … is that like … a VW bus?
So much hatred for the judge. I guess she shouldn’t have given the man a break and just give him the 90 days for threatening to murder police officers initially.
She did NOT sentence the Man To 90 Days After He Fails To Carry A Sign That She Personally Made
She gave him a choice. He said he’d rather do 90 more days than to hold the sign.
It really isn’t any different than any other alternative sentencing. Alternative sentencing that is accepted all the time.
The sign-holding would have saved the taxpayers 10’s of thousands of dollars plus it would have been more effective as a deterrent in this case.
And
By the way, Carr reached the 90 days with the same lack of judicial temperament as the sentencing itself.
is silly. Again, the man offered to spend 90 days. Go before almost any judge, offer to spend 90 days for what is normally a 60-day charge and you’ll most likely get the 90 days you asked for.
Plus if he is asking to spend 90 days, he obviously doesn’t care. The time in jail will not be a deterrent to him. 30 or 60 would have been even less.
Nice racist remark, there, jomo. You suck.
What kind of justice can one expect from such a moron. I wonder if she even knew proper english sentence construction since obviously her first language is Ebonics
Zing!
And, like Burger King, Judge Carr’s sentences are high in calories with no nutritional value.
“And, like Burger King, Judge Carr’s sentences are high in calories with no nutritional value.”
Mike A.,
Apt analogy and quite wryly, funny.
“In the hearing, Carr appropriately compared herself to the Burger King of the justice system.”
Rapidly losing market share and flailing about with new doomed to fail products?
And what mespo said.
The older I get the more I realize that the ills of the world come from overactive ego’s and the delicious power that for some comes with humiliating people. Reminds me all to well of high school. People, many of us still live our lives like it’s high school. Unfortunately, some like this idiot Judge gain the power to act out their sadism.
You still have to respect the robe when you’re before the bench, and if you’re going to smartmouth a judge, then you’re going deserve what you get. Hopefully, the guy learns a lesson from his experience.
The IQ level for judges has dropped about 30 points imo since I started practice 30 years ago. Seems Pinkey is on the fast track to the bottom. Stupid people make stupid judges who make stupid decisions.
Fries.. Sorry
Do you want try’s with that happy meal….
90 days in jail or wearing a sign that says I am idiot for calling 911 and threatening police officers?
I’ll take the sign because I would be an idiot if I did that.
Maybe more judges should be given leeway in sentencing so we would have fewer people in jail. Get arrested for pot, spend a week or a month mowing the lawns of little old ladies in the community or shoveling snow in the winter or just helping them out with odd jobs.
If all the people in jail for minor drug possession charges were forced to help clean up their communities instead of going to jail, that would be a good thing.
He should file a writ of habeas corpus.
There was a judge in Parker County Texas with similar character. He was not elected but briefly appointed to the position by the Governor. He had no experience as a judge. You could tell by watching him that the power to humiliate people had gone to his head. In Texas we elect our judges. The citizens of Parker County did not elect this man when the time came. He would like for me to mention his name. I will not.
I thought we prohibited cruel and unusual punishment. How is this not “unusual?”