In today's racist-humor-that's-only-funny-to-the-speaker news, a Los Angeles County criminal judge who made a remark referencing the Ku Klux Klan in a case involving two African-American defendants was publicly admonished Wednesday by the state Commission on Judicial Performance.
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Neither of the defendants was present, but a family member was in the courtroom when, according to the commission, Judge Harvey Giss remarked that the only thing that would make the defendants agree to a plea would be for him to "come out in a white sheet and a pointy white hat."
When the defense asked the judge to recuse himself because of the remark, he conceded that he had made a "bad statement" but said, "People don't have a sense of humor anymore."
Right … because that statement would have been more funny 20 or 30 years ago?
In any case, the commission had a different assessment. "Judge Giss should have known that his insensitive courtroom reference to a history of violence towards persons of the defendants' ancestry, whether intended to make a valid point regarding his role as a judge or in jest, was offensive and inappropriate," it found.
Giss eventually withdrew from the case.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.
In other news: Reggae Artist Smiley Culture Dies During Police Raid.
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