Criminal Justice System in Black and White

The criminal justice system in Black and white by ALTON H. MADDOX JR. Special to the AmNews It has been very frustrating for me to watch any legal proceeding from the sidelines over the past fifteen years. This is especially true of the Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson cases. For televising criminal prosecutions, California v. O.J. Simpson is the seminal case. Unlike Kobe and Michael, O.J. had the intelligence to retain a real lawyer and to change the venue from a military tribunal to relatively free soil territory.Within the past quarter of a century, no person has contributed more to the coffers of the legal profession and the media than O.J. He gave lawyers the “Lawyers Relief Act.” Court-TV got its legs from O.J. Scores of lawyers have been hired as analysts for media outlets.The criminal justice system has engulfed more than 7 million defendants, most of whom are Black. Blacks are in greater need of legal education and assistance than any other ethnic group. Kobe and Michael are in the best position to challenge the criminal justice system, but they refuse to raise the critical questions.Of all the defenses that were available to Kobe and Michael, they have limited their arguments by saying, in effect, “I did something but I didn’t do that.” This is akin to looking at the ground and scratching your head while talking to a white person. Kobe and Michael refuse to turn on the heat.Neither Kobe nor Michael is seeking to expose the racism in the criminal justice system. If Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill were of the same view, Blacks would still be sitting in segregated courtrooms. But for the Scottsboro Boys case, there would be no Powell v. Alabama. When whites are charged with crimes, certain procedural safeguards are available to ensure that the criminal accusations are not unfounded. This is a function of the grand jury, an accusatory body, which has existed in English jurisprudence since the Norman invasion. For Black defendants, the grand jury is simply a prosecutor’s rubber stamp. If Kobe and Michael were white, there would be no criminal accusations.An indicted defendant is also entitled to have the presiding judge examine the grand jury minutes for any proof of prosecutorial misconduct or for any lack of proof to sustain a prima facie case. At this stage of the criminal process, the accusatory instruments against both Kobe and Michael should have already been dismissed on both grounds.Legislative bodies have written laws that prohibit criminal defendants from appealing interlocutory orders on the ground that a piecemeal approach in a criminal prosecution undermines the right to a speedy trial. This bar becomes a haven to conceal judicial racism and adds to the likelihood of convicting an innocent person.A person who is not a criminal defendant lacks the standing to complain about judicial racism. Kobe and Michael enjoy the standing and also the resources to complain about judicial racism on behalf of themselves and, because of common questions of law and fact, all Black defendants similarly situated. Instead, Kobe and Michael have separated themselves from our racial grievances.Unlike the high profile cases of Kobe and Michael, the criminal cases of most Black defendants fly under the radar screen. Even when the media puts a spotlight on a case, defense attorneys refuse to competently and zealously represent unpopular defendants. The right to racially competent and conscious representation, on the other hand, falls outside the Constitution. In this respect, the Constitution shortchanges Black defendants. Blacks are still unable to understand that the enjoyment of constitutional rights is hazardous to our health.The presence of racially competent and conscious representation arose in the Central Park Jogger case. In my representation of Michael Briscoe, for example, I demanded, at Briscoe’s arraignment, an immediate trial rather than a speedy trial. Black defendants who simply demand their constitutional rights are nearly always convicted.All of the other indicted Central Park Jogger defendants were convicted and imprisoned because their lawyers only demanded speedy trials. Lawyers refuse to think outside the constitutional box simply because law schools teach and grievance committees compel them to think inside the box. The result is a criminal justice system with nearly 8 million criminal defendants, half of who are descendants of enslaved Africans. Most convicted defendants will tell you that they were denied effective legal representation. This lack of representation is by design and not by accident.Blacks are in need of creative lawyering to stop an expansion of the slave-industrial complex as is authorized under the Thirteenth Amendment. Kobe and Michael should have sued Colorado and California, respectively, in federal courts to enjoin racially discriminatory and legally unwarranted criminal prosecutions. The Supreme Court must decide that, under the Reconstruction laws, Blacks are entitled to protections against judicial conspiracies involving legislators, judges, prosecutors and the police in criminal prosecutions. Reconstruction laws were supposedly written to enjoin state actors from participating in civil rights conspiracies.More importantly, Blacks must stop aiding and abetting white supremacy, which enjoys a symbiotic relationship with Black inferiority. Brown v. Board of Education was allegedly decided to end Negro inferiority. Fifty years later, Black inferiority is deeply embedded in the minds of Blacks. Faith-based initiatives will be the final nails in the coffin.The criminal cases of Martha Stewart, Bill Borders and Eliot Abrams are illustrative. They are all convicted felons except that Abrams and Borders have already received presidential pardons. Cong. Alcee Hastings was Borders’ co-defendant. Hastings was acquitted of the criminal charges but still impeached as a federal judge. This was a first.Before a possible reversal of her conviction, Stewart’s stock had already gone through the roof. Abrams is not only able to practice law again but he also has been appointed to a top post in the State Department. The same disciplinary committee which recognized Abrams’ pardon has denied Borders, who is Black, the right to practice law again. He is nearly penniless and, consequently, fighting homelessness, with no relief in sight.Condoleezza Rice is, and Colin Powell was, Abrams’ boss. They would never hire Borders. Similarly, the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Bar Association have refused to aggressively demand an end to his disparate treatment. This is a Black man’s burden. White supremacy demands that whites be given a second chance. Negro inferiority demands that Blacks must never be given a helping hand. Kobe and Michael are agents of Negro inferiority. Whites are not only prosecuting them but also defending them. Thus, whites are able to have their cake and eat it too.