I-TEAM: DA shoots down judge’s comments accusing his office of targeting Black people

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - In rare form, District Attorney Hillar Moore wants to set the record straight a day after the WAFB I-TEAM exposed a curse-filled rant from judge Eboni Johnson-Rose. During a recent court case, the judge got frustrated with prosecutors who wanted to get a Black man to take a plea deal on domestic abuse and drug charges. At one point, according to the court transcript, the judge accused the District Attorney’s Office of targeting Black people saying, “I know the DA probably wants to throw every black man in jail but I don’t.”

Moore calls the comments inappropriate and he is highly offended on behalf of himself and everyone who works in his office.

”It’s damn near close to being called a racist and it really pisses me off,” said Moore. “It’s just completely and wholly untrue. We do not see our cases as they come in as color. We see them as victims and defendants and we treat them all alike. It doesn’t matter what the color is.”

At one point during the rant, the judge complains about the length of the case saying, “this case is god**n four years old.” She later asks prosecutors if they want to just “stick every n word in jail.” The transcript shows where the judge actually said the racial slur.

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”I think she would rather have her words back and would apologize,” said Moore. “That’s the person I know her and her family to be but unfortunately, what’s on the record is on the record.”

The District Attorney admits the case has taken a while to move through the court but he says things have stalled partly because, at least two times, the man facing the charges did not show up for court.

”When it was set for trial he did not appear and I think he has had two bench warrants,” said Moore. “In fact, while out on bond he was rearrested again.”

According to the court transcript, Judge Johnson-Rose also took issue with the deal that was on the table for the man saying, “he won’t be able to get this shit expunged off his record.” She was also concerned about the fact that he would not be able to own a gun for five years.

The District Attorney says it is clear the judge was not happy with the details of the deal but he says, as part of the deal, the man would not face any jail time. Moore says that completely goes against the accusations the judge was making.

”The offer that was made to him was extremely fair and he refused to take it,” said Moore. “We offered him a reduction to just the felony drug charge which he could have received an article 893 and receive a probated sentence and would never go to jail so jail was not on the table. I don’t know where that comment came from.”

It’s not the first time the judge’s decisions have been questioned. Last month, the Louisiana Supreme Court called out the judge, saying she made a mistake in the case of a woman accused of waving a gun at folks during a flood. Justices said the judge violated the rules by meeting privately with jurors after already accepting their verdict in the case and then allowing them to meet again and then change their verdict. The high court cleared the woman of all charges.

RELATED: ‘Shocks the conscience’: Justices weigh in on Baton Rouge trial judge’s mistake

Around the same time, the same judge also fumbled a sexual assault case against former Baton Rouge Police Department officer Donald Steele. The former officer was accused of sexually harassing a woman at a traffic stop. The judge cleared the officer after first convicting him of a charge that did not exist.

RELATED: After convicting former officer of crime that does not exist, trial judge issues new verdict

Judge Johnson-Rose also ordered that a man have his ankle monitor removed while he was out on bond after being accused of murdering his girlfriend. While he was not being tracked, he was accused of attacking another woman and her kids. The judge also let another man out on bond for a homicide and he was later accused in a separate drive-by shooting.

The District Attorney believes getting bad media attention for her recent missteps may have motivated the judge to fly off the handle in court.

”The pressure was there because of the recent times she’s been in the news on some of her decisions being attacked but that’s part of the nature of this business,” said Moore.

While he does not believe these comments reflect the judge’s true feelings, Moore says he wants the judge to be removed from this case going forward.

”There’s no possible way that anyone could ever imagine that she could be fair and impartial in this particular case,” said Moore. “The more troubling question is what is the future based on her statements of how she perceives the office and what we would like to do or what we are doing to one particular group of people. That is more troubling than just one case.”

The WAFB I-TEAM emailed Judge Rose’s office for comment about the bond decisions and the comments she made.

Diana Gibbens, Judicial Administrator for the 19th Judicial District Court, responded to the email.

Gibbens said that judges are prohibited from commenting on pending matters.

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