I’m Going To Interfere With An Election Today
Please join me. I hope you’ll pass the word to anyone living in Utah.
Utah has retention elections for judges. One, Judge Leslie Lewis, needs to be shown the door. Why? Is it because she made some decision I don’t agree with? No. I’m not that petty. Is it because she seems to be f*ckin nuts? You got it!
Sportsmen in Utah are launching a campaign against her this year.
Members of the hunting community have started a grass-roots campaign to oust Lewis after she ordered that a defendant’s brother be arrested for expressing displeasure with her views on hunting during a hearing last February.
Yeah so jumping up and screaming how wrong you think the judge’s opinions are is wrong. Only the guy didn’t do that. Let’s read on, shall we?
The hunting-community controversy stems from a February hearing on a third-degree felony count of wanton destruction of protected wildlife filed against Michael Jacobson. In the hearing, Lewis was recusing herself from the case because of her personal bias against deer hunting.
Recusing herself from a case where she’s obviously biased is a good thing. I give her credit there. You say you have a conflict and can’t hear the case. Move on. Nooooo…not for Judge Lewis! Why her gavel is her microphone.
While expressing her views, Lewis confronted Jacobson with questions of how he feels while shooting a deer.
Yeah, if by peppering the defendant with questions about how heartless one has to be to see a deer’s beating heart and knowing you shot it is simply expressing her views. Or how about continuing with questions about whether or not the man was starving as part of the process to recuse herself? Now, I’m not the most up to date on my studies of Utah legal practices, but I’m pretty few courtrooms are meant to serve as podiums for judges to attack defendants.
Jacobson’s brother, Kent Jacobson, stood up to leave the courtroom. Lewis ordered a bailiff to bring him back into the courtroom.
“Now, why did you feel the need to make such an explosive and clear indication of your displeasure or boredom at being here?” Lewis asked.
Explosive, huh? Problem is, it wasn’t an explosive exit. The man sitting in the back of the courtroom just got up and stepped outside. So a judge got angry that someone left her courtroom. Get over it. Not Judge Lewis! No, she sends the bailiff out to chase the person down and haul them in front of her for questioning. What’s a person to do? Answer the question of course!
Kent Jacobson responded: “OK, it’s not just the displeasure of being bored here. The problem is, is we have just as much rights of going out and shooting deer as you have the right …” He was then cut off by Lewis.
“What are you talking about?” she injected, and then ordered that he be arrested and sent to a holding cell.
She had him hauled off to jail for daring to say that they had legal rights to hunt, the same way she had legal rights to disagree with hunting. Abuse of authority anyone?? Oh, but you think the story ends there? Not likely with Judge Lewis!
According to the survey of 123 attorneys, 60 percent found Lewis’ behavior “free from bias and favoritism.” Only 54 percent of the attorneys approved of how she “perceives legal and factual issues.” Under standards set by the Utah Judicial Council, judges should pass with 70 percent approval or greater.
Of attorneys who worked with her, 40% of them think she’s biased in the courtroom. Gee, I wonder what gave them that impression. And 46% of them doubt her ability to properly perceive legal issues, something I’d consider pretty important for a judge. And she doesn’t even come close to the minimum standards suggested by the state’s Judicial Council. That’s bad. How much do you have to screw up to get that many lawyers to believe you’re not even capable of understanding legal issues?
Did I mention there’s a video of the entire hunting debate? Oh yes, it has made it to YouTube. And brought to you here for your entertainment outrage. (I’m trying this video plugin for the first time, so apologies if it’s screwy.)
Sportsmen have set up a webpage here.
I should clarify, I don’t think she seems f*ckin nuts because she’s anti-hunting. I had to watch that video multiple times before I even noticed the guy leave the courtroom, hardly the explosive exit she claims. She obviously has no appreciation for the legal system if she’s using her courtroom to bully defendants she disagrees with and spectators who don’t feel the need to sit through these inappropriate rants. She locked a guy up for daring to make the comment that he had a legal right to hunt, which he does in Utah, in response to her question about why he left. People like this don’t deserve a gavel. The evidence gives plenty of reasons why she needs to be off the bench. Let’s hope the people of Utah do that in November.
UPDATE: For those of you finding this by way of search engines, please visit the Judge Leslie Lewis category for a full overview of the awful things she’s doing in Utah.
No obviously related posts.
Shouldn’t this be in the “Women: We’re F*cking Nuts!” category?
I wonder if Utah has a judicial conduct commission, as we have here, which can at least discipline a judge. Not likely to happen, but this is a pretty clear case of abuse of power.
Depending upon the system, it can be hard to vote down a judge. In AZ, for instance, they run without opponents — the only vote is whether the judge ought to be retained. A lot of people just vote yes unless they have personal experience. I think one judge got a “no” vote back in the late 70s, and none since.
Having listened to the movie…
I’d have been hard put to refrain from asking, “Pardon, your honor, but weren’t we married, way back? I could swear…”
This plainly is a tyrant, perhaps a mental whacko, who ought to be off the bench. She asks a question and, as soon as he begins politely to answer, has him arrested, and insists that she didn’t ask anything, this wasn’t a dialog, etc.
When there’s an election involved and it’s a serious matter of the integrity of the judicial system on the line, it’s serious enough to be political. I could give a damn the judge is a woman.
Dave, don’t you love her emphasis that she is not in the same position as he is? Tyrant is right, though that may be an understatement.
When I worked for the Florida House, one of my bosses suggested only half-jokingly that we should impeach a judge every year, just to remind them that we could. Too many of them need to be shown that they’re NOT the little monarchs they so often behave like.
Sure. That was a part of her display of tyranny. Plainly she was speaking her mind — she is entitled, just entitled, to order people around, force them to hear her lectures on her biases, pull them back when they leave, and throw them in jail if they do anything but listen (even when she’s asked them a question — so it’s the power to jail them if she doesn’t like their answers, no matter how politely given).
I’ve seen some pretty tough and even nasty judges in my 30 years, but none that went insane like this one does. I’ve never witnessed a judge ordering someone confined for contempt, period, and only twice heard of it happening — one case being justified, and the other TOTALLY justified. Putting a citizen in jail for (1) leaving the courtroom, as he had a right to do or (2) upon being pulled back in — which the judge had no power to do — politely answering an impolite question is simply beyond the pale. Anyone who would do that has to be taken off the bench. Frankly, from the videotape, I think the judge has some significant mental issues, to boot. This just isn’t a person who should be deciding cases, period.
[...] Courtesy of The Bitch Girls, we have this court video of Judge Leslie Lewis of Utah’s 3rd District from 24 February 2006. Defendant Michael Jacobson was charged with a third-degree felony count of wanton destruction of protected wildlife for helping to transport a deer carcass that a friend had poached. Michael’s brother Kent Jacobson was in the audience to observe and to support his brother. While recusing herself from the case because of her personal bias against deer hunting, the judge uses her bench to make a personal statement about the case. Here is what transpires: [...]
Yay! The issue is picking up traditional press around the state.
Her statement to the press says she’s just trying to “maintain control over my courtroom.” The tragic part of the mainstream press is that they can’t run the video in the newspaper and show people what her definition of control the courtroom includes. She’s the one who sounded upset and was raising her voice. She’s the one who was confrontational in her approach. Any rational person viewing that video can see that she’s the one who is losing control, not the defendant or his brother.
I know getting a judge out during a retention election is an uphill battle, but I hope the people of Utah see what a tyrant they have abusing the legal system there.
[...] So here’s some more information on the process to remove Judge Leslie Lewis, tyrant of the Utah court system who will have you handcuffed and locked up if you politely disagree with her. CAMPAIGN CONDUCTAccording to Canon 5 of Utah’s code of judicial conduct, judicial retention candidates shall not make pledges or promises of conduct in office other than the faithful and impartial performance of the duties of the office, or misrepresent their identity, qualifications, present position, or other facts. [...]
When judges attack…
Bitter blogs an out of control judge in Utah. Ordinarily, you would think that Utah is friendly to gun owners and hunters. Read her comments and try to keep your lunch down when you watch the video….
[...] The provide several relevant recipes: Crispy Quails with Chile Jam and Three-Bean Salad, Crunchy Almond-Crusted Duck Breasts with Chanterelle Salad, Herb-Roasted Pheasants with Endives and Horseradish Puree and Buckshot Gumbo. The recipes include wine pairing suggestions. I would like to propose a toast to Judge Leslie Lewis in Utah. [...]
Utah does have a Judiciary Conduct Commission and the number is 801) 626-3369. I urge everyone who lives in Utah to call and ask for her immediate removal from the bench. You may also find this info interesting.
http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/3923.html or you may post comments about her behavior in this link.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=600929&comments=true
I have personally been in her court room recently and the tape was mild compared to what she did then. There are many stories of her misconduct on the web.
I’d like to kick her off the bench, but I’m not sure if citizens who don’t live in her judicial district (Utah 3rd, I live in Utah 2nd) can vote in her retention election.
If so, I’m definitely voting against.
Further proof that Liberalism is a mental disease.
I’ve had to deal with Judge Lewis – personally. She fined me for my Ex Husband breaking into my own computer and using things in court against me. I had to pay his legal fees, his airfare costs, and I lost almost everything I had due to him breaking a federal law, but she fined me instead. She said I had no right to tell her what federal law was in her courtroom and she made sure that I paid dearly for it. She is crazy and even though my divorce is over with and I don’t have to deal with her anymore I would hope that she still gets removed so she can’t hurt anyone else.
You think this deer episode is weird?
She raked a mormon guy up and down because he wanted to baptize his 8 year old daughter! Gave him a lecture about how ridiculous it is to have a child make a religious decision.
Can you imagine what she’d do to the Catholics?
[...] Though the situation that first brought my attention to the case involved a hunting dispute, people should be reasonably intelligent enough to realize that it’s not about hunting. Based on comments I’m seeing on other blogs, I’m not so sure that people really understand this concept. I thought it was simple enough. She had a man detained because he didn’t want to listen to her rants from the bench that she never should have been making since she already recused herself from the case. When questioned, that man – a spectator, not the defendant – made a valid point by saying that in Utah, there is currently a right to hunt. (Well, permission. I believe they are working on a right to hunt amendment.) Because he didn’t agree with her, she becam angry and irrational, having the man thrown in a hold cell simply because he didn’t share the same opinion. Again, it’s not about hunting, stupid. It’s just that sportsmen were the first to show documented proof to the world of just how insane power has made this woman. I’ve talked to several attorneys about her behavior in the video and no one can believe it. She’s the one being unprofessional, so it’s rather amusing that her excuse is that she needed to have him arrested to keep control of the courtroom. Watch the video again. There aren’t riots or screaming or anything else going on. This man wasn’t causing hell in her court. He just got up and walked out. She’s the one who starts raising her voice first. For the record, the defendant in that case, the poacher, was found guilty and sentenced by another judge. His actions have absolutely nothing to do with the terrible behavior displayed by Leslie Lewis. [...]
[...] I’ve been getting a few hits for people looking for information on Judge Leslie Lewis in Utah. That’s cool because I’m definitely not one of the top sites for her. People are doing their research. I just hope that most or all of them are Utah residents. Anyway, I noticed in a Google alert that popped up this weekend that her antics are making the letters to the editor pages. That’s still a great way to sway an election. Yes, the hard news coverage helps, but citizens putting in their own words why her retention is a mistake makes people who haven’t been following it closely think about the election more. [...]
Judge Lewis needs to find a new job! And obtain some intensive psychotherapy treatment. She’s carrying way too much baggage to be a judge of anything but maybe of animals at a county fair! She obviously is a fine candidate for PETA membership!
If you don’t comprehend that it’s not about hunting, don’t bother commenting.
Judge Lewis has a heart. Hunters are heartless jerks and GOOD for her to let them have it.
What a power-crazed witch. It’s not her job to give these little semonettes about her own life experience and biases. She’s an example of what is wrong with our courts. Thank goodness they have rentenion votes in Utah. She needs mental help, a seat on the couch, not a seat on the bench.
If you come here again Barabara, or any others who are too stupid to comprehend that this isn’t about hunting, then you’re banned. Oh the irony of a stupid woman posting that right after I made the point that I don’t want stupid people commenting. Actually, that’s not irony because it’s exactly what you can expect from the ignorant.
It’s Tuesday evening and I just checked the results for the retention election and it looks like people have been listening and taking their opinions to the polls. With 76% of the votes in it looks like she will NOT remain on the bench. Of interest is also the fact that she is the ONLY judge in Utah on the current ballot not to be retained.
With 97% of the votes in, she is NOT going to be retained. Woo hoo! Thanks for this information you provided. I question whether or not these people that hate hunters so much, do they eat meat? What about that poor cow they kill with a pneumatic gun, then chain-hoist it, and gut it while it’s still in the death throws? Did you think about that Barbara? What about that chicken sandwich you had for lunch? How did that chicken feel when it’s neck was getting broken so you can eat? Hunting/gathering is the cycle of life. If you eat any kind of meat, you can’t bitch about hunters, because at least they are hunting an animal that has a chance at living. Our livestock do not have any chance at surviving the slaughterhouse. I am not pro-hunter, but this election wasn’t about that. It was about a judge trying to enforce hipocritical views. She’s not a vegetarian, yet complains when someone eats a deer.