Activists demand McSpadden leave bench
They say comments show he cannot be impartial in rulings
Civil rights activists, politicians and a union leader Monday gathered outside the Harris County criminal courthouse to demand the resignation of a veteran district judge over controversial published remarks he made about African-American defendants and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Several speakers invited by the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice called on voters to replace State District Judge Michael McSpadden, who is up for reelection, and other jurists who have a pattern of denying personal bonds to poor defendants. Among the groups decrying McSpadden’s conduct were the Houston branch of the NAACP, CAIR of Houston, LULAC, AFSCME and the American GI Forum. Democratic state representatives Armando Walle and Ana Hernandez, as well as Lina Hidalgo, the Democratic challenger for County Judge Ed Emmett’s job, joined these groups in urging the county to settle a costly lawsuit over bail practices that an appeals court ruled were unconstitutional.
The demonstration comes days after many of the groups filed a complaint with the state’s watchdog commission in Austin seeking sanctions against McSpadden, who has served 36 years on the bench. They claim he demonstrated through his comments that he has pre-judged defendants before they arrive in his court.
McSpadden was interviewed by the Houston Chronicle last month for a story about 31 criminal judges who instructed magistrates to deny cash-free bail bonds to defendants. The judge said he felt most felony defendants were “tainted.” He said they tended to have extensive criminal histories, committed new offenses while out on bond, and they did not take court dates seriously.
McSpadden went on to say, “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? Rag-tag 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.”
McSpadden has declined subsequent requests for comment, but submitted a letter to the editor outlining his thoughts in greater detail.
At a news conference, Johnny N. Mata, director of the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice, said he was “appalled” by McSpadden’s statement, which he said indicated the judge’s mind was made up before he heard cases involving black defendants. He and other community leaders drew a link between McSpadden and other judges who systematically deny cash-free bonds to poor defendants, and the county’s protracted defense in the civil rights lawsuit over local bail practices that a conservative federal appeals court in New Orleans last month affirmed were discriminatory against indigent defendants.
“We’re not here to coddle criminals, we’re here to defend justice, especially in the way that the scales of justice weigh down more on the poor,” Mata said.
James Douglas, president of the Houston branch of the NAACP, said he believed McSpadden was not alone in this thinking, but he should be removed from trying cases because he cannot be fair.
“He has indicated he has preconceived ideas about potential individuals that might come before him in a criminal trial,” said Douglas, a law professor at Texas Southern University. “To make a statement that certain segments of the population have criminal intent and not deal with people on an individual basis is not the kind of criteria we want to see in the people who serve on the bench.”
“Not only is he racist, he’s not very smart,” he said.
Douglas also said he was concerned the magistrates who were sanctioned by the judicial commission appeared to have contradicted previous testimony in the federal lawsuit about how much discretion the lower-tier judges have to grant bonds.
“Either the judges are lying or the magistrates are lying,” he said. “If either one of them are lying, it still means we have a serious problem in our system.”
Mustafaa Carroll, executive director for the Houston office of CAIR, said McSpadden’s comments set a “dangerous precedent” and were “untenable” for defendants before him.
“His unfounded remarks that [black men] are not getting good advice from their parents are equally disturbing and play into age old stereotypes about black people that in this case appear to justify abrogation of the law and the defendants rights,” he said.
Cynthia Cole, executive director of Local 1550 of AFSCME, pondered aloud about what she classified as an egregious display of bias.
“Is it surprising? Absolutely not. Is it unacceptable? It absolutely is,” the public employees union director said. “Unfair is unfair.”