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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 11
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 11 |
Judge Put on Leave For Tarzan Jokes
The Associated Press
August 5, 2003
Boston -- An immigration judge was placed on administrative leave Monday after complaints that he made jokes about Tarzan to a woman who had been raped and tortured in her native Uganda.
The woman, whose first name is Jane, went before Judge Thomas Ragno in June, seeking political asylum in the United States because her husband was killed and she was beaten, raped and tortured in her homeland.
"Jane, come here. Me Tarzan!" Ragno said, according to the woman's physician, Dr. Sondra Crosby, who attended the June 20 deportation hearing to testify about the woman's injuries.
"It was disrespectful and insulting, and in my mind it was racist to have a white judge making Tarzan comments to a black woman," Crosby said.
Crosby filed an affidavit protesting Ragno's behavior as part of the woman's appeal of the judge's rejection of her bid for asylum.
After learning of the complaint, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, placed Ragno on paid leave pending an investigation, spokesman Greg Gagne said.
During the court session, Ragno also listened to a weather forecast on his speaker phone and discussed his search for a new condominium, Crosby said.
Ragno, an immigration judge for more than 30 years, did not return a call seeking comment. Court administrator Robert Halpin declined to comment.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
What was the judge's mens rea ?...Did he in his comment
mean that Jane had nothing to fear as he was the King
of the jungle ? or Come here and meet Tarznan you ain't
see nothin yet ? or any other spin you think was his
mindset. Give Judgeee a fair trial and in so doing throw
out the old Russian proverb..Fear not the law but rather the judge.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>"Jane, come here. Me Tarzan!"
while certainly inappropriate, what more can be gleaned from this extract? perhaps he was only riffing on the name Jane. (and there's nothing inherently racial about the statement, is there?)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Obviously, if the Judge had granted the plaintiff's petition, there would have been no complaint. It does sound to me as though that Judge were overdue for retirement.
His mens is a menace.Decorum non habet.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
You're right, if the petition had been granted the woman would likely have not dared to complain in case she lost her new found safety, a reasonable fear given her history. It wouldn't have made the comment any less hurtful or repugnant or his other behaviors less inappropriate. It does make me question a medically based cognitive impairment. What do you think Dr. Bill, brain aneurysm???
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Power corrupts the possessor. I have heard many stories about judges indulging in inappropriate humor. No need to postulate a mental aberration.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear carambola: since you might not anticipate need to check, please read the PM I have taken the liberty of sending you. Bill
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
There is no excuse for what that judge did. That said, all I have to add is my agreement that judges and immigration people* can certainly get to feeling all-powerful--and in fact, many times they are; enough times so that they may come to see themselves as omnipotent--which they aren't.
Just FTR, I had to look up mens rea.
*To say nothing of the IRS (can't say about tax offices in other countries). But legislation is under way, here, to restrict their power somewhat.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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For those disinclined to look it up:
Kevin's English law glossary: mens rea Last modified: Jan 02
One of the major elements in culpability (see criminal culpability) is that the accused should have a mental state commensurate with committing the offence. This state is known as mens rea, which can be translated as `guilty mind' or `blameworthy mind'. Nearly all criminal offences require a demonstration of mens rea. However, it is unusual to see the term mens rea used in statute; instead statutes use terms like `intend' (see intention) or `reckless' (see recklessness) to express the mental state of the perpetrator. Some offences do not use any such words, and may therefore be interpreted as strict liability offences.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Wow--thanks, Dr. Bill! Yes, I can think of the criminal charge 'assault with intent'. And the insanity plea is based on this, too, is it not?
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