You brought race in here: Judge refuses to recuse himself from trial of white cop shooting unarmed
‘You brought race in here’: Judge refuses to recuse himself from trial of white cop shooting unarmed black man
NOOR AL-SIBAI at Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/you-brought-race-in-here-judge-refuses-to-recuse-himself-from-trial-of-white-cop-shooting-unarmed-black-man/
"SNIP............
In a filing sent soon after Griffin was assigned the trial in April 2017, Smith’s lawyers claimed the judge was unfit to preside due to the “eerily similar” circumstances surrounding his run-in with Montgomery PD and the events that led to Smith shooting and killing Gunn.
Smith’s lawyers began pushing to oust Griffin earlier this year, but last Friday, their attempts to lobby the Alabama Supreme Court to delay were successful. The state’s upper court decided to halt the trial for 21 days while they hear arguments from both Griffin and Smith’s lawyers.
Griffin is the fourth judge to preside over Smith’s murder trail after the first three recused themselves, and he says he won’t follow in their footsteps.
“You brought race in here,” Griffin told the Montgomery Advertiser in May. “I’m a black judge. I can take this black robe off, but I can’t take off this black skin. I live in west Montgomery. I live in the ’hood. Should I recuse myself from every criminal case that has happened on the west side?”
...........SNIP"
