Post by Greg55_99 on Aug 17, 2020 18:18:36 GMT
Pennsylvania court officials Wednesday filed disciplinary action against a county judge accused of referring to a Black female juror as “Aunt Jemima” and making other racially insensitive remarks on and off the bench.
The target of the complaint by the Judicial Conduct Board is Judge Mark V. Tranquilli of Allegheny County. Tranquilli, who is white, is a former prosecutor who has been a judge since 2014.According to the complaint, Tranquilli made his Aunt Jemima comment after a jury acquitted a man on drug delivery charges in January.
The judge questioned the prosecutor as to why he had allowed a “knucklehead” and the mother of a public defender to be seated on the jury. Tranquilli also asked the DA why he allowed “Aunt Jemima,” a Black woman who wore her hair in a kerchief, on the jury, the complaint states. Investigators claim the judge then told the DA he “knew darn well when she goes home to her baby daddy, he’s probably slinging heroin, too.”
Tranquilli is accused of telling two Black parents during a custody hearing in 2015 that he would “split (their) baby in half like Solomon and sleep like a baby that night.” He told the couple he was only marking time in family court until he could be assigned to the criminal division, investigators claim.
They said when Tranquilli told the man and woman how he expected them to act during court proceedings he adopted a dialect described as “ebonics” and said, “And when I say communication, I don’t mean ‘an den da bitch done dis, and den da bitch done dat’.”
The target of the complaint by the Judicial Conduct Board is Judge Mark V. Tranquilli of Allegheny County. Tranquilli, who is white, is a former prosecutor who has been a judge since 2014.According to the complaint, Tranquilli made his Aunt Jemima comment after a jury acquitted a man on drug delivery charges in January.
The judge questioned the prosecutor as to why he had allowed a “knucklehead” and the mother of a public defender to be seated on the jury. Tranquilli also asked the DA why he allowed “Aunt Jemima,” a Black woman who wore her hair in a kerchief, on the jury, the complaint states. Investigators claim the judge then told the DA he “knew darn well when she goes home to her baby daddy, he’s probably slinging heroin, too.”
Tranquilli is accused of telling two Black parents during a custody hearing in 2015 that he would “split (their) baby in half like Solomon and sleep like a baby that night.” He told the couple he was only marking time in family court until he could be assigned to the criminal division, investigators claim.
They said when Tranquilli told the man and woman how he expected them to act during court proceedings he adopted a dialect described as “ebonics” and said, “And when I say communication, I don’t mean ‘an den da bitch done dis, and den da bitch done dat’.”
www.pennlive.com/news/2020/08/pa-judge-who-called-black-juror-aunt-jemima-hit-with-disciplinary-charges-over-inappropriate-comments.html
Savage judge.....
Greg
