Rebecca DeMoss
Originally published on March 15, 2021 6:14 pm
Prosecutors and public defenders in Clark County are pushing for more consequences after a district court judge derided a Black man killed by police in October.
Barrar Law Firm, among the largest defense firms in Southwest Washington, on Monday called for Judge Darvin Zimmerman’s resignation following the recorded and broadcast comments.
“The bias and the racism displayed in his comments have no place in our community and no place in our courtrooms,” the law firm said in a statement. “We must hold judicial officers to a high standard so that everyone in our community has equal access to justice.”
Judge called on to resign after comments about Black man
March 15, 2021
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VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) Clark County District Court in Southwestern Washington has condemned Judge Darvin Zimmerman and a prominent law firm has called for his resignation for critical comments of a Black man killed by police.
Zimmerman, whose comments in the courtroom were posted on YouTube, described Kevin Peterson Jr. as “the Black guy they were trying to make an angel out of,” and said he believed he had a death wish and “was so dumb,” The Columbian reported.
The judge also said Peterson’s father had told a police chaplain he felt the shooting was justified but, “the next day, he wakes up with dollar signs in his eyes and George Floyd’s attorneys had already contacted him.”
Letter: How do we protect the public? By Rheta Rubenstein, Ridgefield
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March 7 marked two years since Carlos Hunter died at the hands of Vancouver police. He, along with Clayton Joseph and Michael Pierce, were lost within a month. Since then we also lost William Abbe and Alexander Williams to the Vancouver Police Department and Kevin Peterson Jr. and Jenoah Donald to Clark County sheriff’s deputies.
At a 2019 NAACP meeting, a mother told Chief James McElvain, essentially, “My son is 15. He looks like he’s 22. He acts like he’s 8. Can I bring him to your agency and introduce him to your officers?” In my mind I imagined the implied conclusion, “so they don’t kill him.”
Southwestern Washington judge called on to resign after comments about Black man killed by police q13fox.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from q13fox.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A judge in Washington has said he is “truly sorry if I offended anyone” after he made belittling livestreamed references to a man killed by officers on a drug task force.