"Prejudicial error" is what we appellate attorneys call it when a judge makes a legal mistake, and the ultimate result would probably have been different if he hadn't.
There probably wasn't prejudicial error in Judge Beverly Grant's courtroom in my home state of Washington last Friday -- just some bad judgment.
In a sentencing hearing for a man convicted of manslaughter -- with the tearful family of the victim in the courtroom -- Judge Grant ordered everyone to say, "Go Seahawks!" She decided people weren't loud enough, so she ordered them to repeat it. Then she resentenced the defendant to 13 1/2 years in prison.
I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Judicial power can be a scary thing. A judge's order can't be lightly ignored. A judge wields the power of the state, and can use the contempt process and control over the bailiff to immediately punish refusals to obey her power. So judges need to take care how they exercise that power. This did not seem to be a wise use.
Judge Grant apparently wanted to break the tension. Seems to me tension is unavoidable when you have a man's freedom and a family's sorrow at stake.
1 comment:
I don't know what it is with Tacoma, but every time you blink something happens there. It really is bizzare.
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