Marcus D. Gordon, Circuit Court Judge of Scott County, the great state of Mississippi, is a hoot. When he's not addressing the interviewer as "Lady," he's basically shrugging off the rights (and innocence and credibility) of anyone who has been arrested. And when pressed on allegations that arrestees are being held for months before formal indictment (the first time they can request a public defender be appointed if they need one), his only answer is a shrug. It's not his responsibility, he doesn't have have time to address it, and boy is he overworked … and, besides, they're all criminals.
Yeah, it's all a hoot — unless you should happen to be arrested in Scott County, Mississippi.
Mississippi judge: ‘People charged with crimes, they are criminals’
Fault Lines speaks to Marcus D. Gordon, a judge accused of violating the rights of indigent defendants
I charge him with being a jerk. Therefore he's guilty.
+Rob Pearson Ya know, it doesn't surprise me at all. Look at him. You can see it.
He should be impeached.
Judge Gordon is revered in Scott county because he's "tough" SMH
Well, heck, we can save a fortune by getting rid of the whole legal system. No need for trials if people charged with crimes are criminals. Just charge them, sentence them, and lock them up!
Time was, the closer to the Gulf coast without actually reaching it you got, the more of these sorts of characters you encountered. I see they've spread north, though.
Ah, the Meese Doctrine. How I've missed it.
(I haven't missed it at all.)
Can't he still be disbarred? Surely the state bar association could do something about this.
+Brittany Constable Hmmm. Do you have to be a member of the bar to be an elected circuit county judge in Mississippi?
I don't actually know how all that works. I know that most judges start out as lawyers, but I don't know if that's a requirement or if they're required to be in good standing with the bar. But it would boggle my mind if they didn't have some way for them to step in and remove a judge who's violated ethics or constitutional principles (like, say, the presumption of innocence) without having to rely on the electorate to do it.
+Brittany Constable That assumes that the Bar Association of the great state of Mississippi would want to rile up the judges of that fair dominion. Or that they disagree with Judge Gordon, for that matter.
Mississippi judges may be removed in one of three ways:
On the recommendation of the commission on judicial performance, the supreme court may censure, remove, or retire a judge.
Judges may be impeached by two thirds of the house of representatives and removed by the senate.
Judges may be removed by the governor on the joint address of two thirds of both houses of the legislature.
http://www.judicialselection.us/judicial_selection/methods/removal_of_judges.cfm?state
As far as I know, Down Home doesn't require a judge to even have a law degree, so I doubt disbarment is going to bother one, at least until election time, and, given the anti-whatever sentiment here, maybe not even then..