ACLU urges judge to resign over remarks
Rights group calls his comments on black defendants ‘outrageous’
The ACLU of Texas is calling for Harris County’s longest-serving felony court judge to resign due to “outrageous” statements he made to the Houston Chronicle outlining his views about black defendants in the criminal justice system.
If the judge doesn’t opt to leave his job, the civil rights group said Tuesday it wants him to automatically recuse himself from cases involving African-American defendants or consider individual recusal requests until a state commission can investigate allegations that he is racially biased.
The Chronicle reported last week that State District Judge Michael McSpadden, who has
served 36 years as a jurist, was one of 31 felony court judges who systematically instructed magistrates to deny personal bond to defendants for more than a decade. This pattern came to light after three Harris County magistrates were sanctioned for failing to exercise discretion in bail hearings.
Sharon Watkins Jones, director of political strategies for the ACLU of Texas, said after reading McSpadden’s remarks it was imperative to move swiftly and “call out this outrageous conduct,” adding that the organization might take further action.
Attempts to contact the judge by phone and email at his office and at home after working hours were unsuccessful.
Sandra Guerra Thompson, who directs the University of Houston’s Criminal Justice Institute, said the judge’s comments about defendants are problematic in a criminal setting, but she couldn’t speculate about the ethical matters.
“The statements were surprising and raised real questions about whether he can fairly adjudicate a case involving an AfricanAmerican male,” the former New York prosecutor said. “It was especially egregious because it reflected his decisions about setting basic policy in bail issues.”
The county’s bail practices were upended after an historic federal court ruling last year in which the judge found the county discriminated against poor misdemeanor defendants, relegating them to “wealth-based detention.”
“The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld most of the judge’s findings, but sent some portions of the case back to the trial court to make adjustments.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told Commissioners Court on Tuesday he thought the county should settle the suit based on the 5th Circuit’s ruling. However, lawyers for the indigent defendants who filed the class action plan to request a rehearing before same panel. They asked the trial judge on Tuesday to hold off on taking corrective action ordered by the appeals court, which indicates they are unlikely to settle for the 5th Circuit’s conditions.
‘Ragtag organizations’
The comments by McSpadden were in response to an investigation of the county’s historic bail practices. McSpadden said he directed magistrates over a 12-year period to decline all requests for personal bond because many had serious criminal histories and some were facing new allegations of violent offenses.
“Almost everybody we see here has been tainted in some way before we see them,” he said. “They’re not good risks.”
The judge said in recent years defendants have been released on bonds only to be arrested for another offense. In his view, many of them don’t take court dates seriously or have respect for authority, he said.
“The young black men — and it’s primarily young black men rather than young black women — charged with felony offenses, they’re not getting good advice from their parents,” he said. “Who do they get advice from? Ragtag organizations like Black Lives Matter, which tell you, ‘Resist police,’ which is the worst thing in the world you could tell a young black man ... They teach contempt for the police, for the whole justice system.”
The ACLU has asked the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in Austin to investigate McSpadden based on those comments.
“If there remained any doubt that the deck is stacked against people of color in our criminal justice system, Michael McSpadden just dispelled it,” said Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas. “When a sitting judge feels comfortable enough to admit openly and on the record that he uses bail orders to jail black defendants on the assumption they can’t be trusted, it’s time to take action. This kind of flagrant racism has no place in our justice system.”
The civil rights organization said McSpadden’s comments violate the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct and could merit removal from office.
The rules that govern judges’ conduct say that judges cannot exhibit prejudice. Canon 3B(6) states, “A judge shall not, in the performance of judicial duties, by words or conduct manifest bias or prejudice, including but not limited to bias or prejudice based upon race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status, and shall not knowingly permit staff, court officials and others subject to the judge’s direction and control to do so.”
‘Not at all surprising’
Exonerated death row inmate Anthony Graves, who runs a criminal justice initiative for the ACLU of Texas, said the judge’s statement fits a familiar pattern.
“Judge McSpadden’s remarks are inexcusable, but not at all surprising for those of us who know the justice system well,” Graves said in a statement. “Black men have always been overwhelmingly and disproportionately targeted for punishment by the police and the courts for no reason other than the color of our skin.“
At the regular Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said he was “disturbed” by McSpadden’s comments. “He was verbalizing what I fear many others were thinking but the judges don’t say it,” Ellis said.
At the lively meeting, County Court at Law Judge Darrell Jordan urged county leaders to “cut this last check” and sit down and work out a settlement. “What do we continue to fight for? When we get to $10 million what will we have accomplished?” Jordan said.
Court at Law Judge Mike Fields made a similar appeal. “What I came here today to ask is that you use every tool in your arsenal to help us settle this lawsuit,” Fields said.
Emmett said there are “offers to settle that have not been responded to by the plaintiffs,” adding ““It takes two sides to settle.”