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.