Tuesday, July 26, 2016

"Neo-Nazi gets makeover to hide tattoos from jury"

Las Vegas Review Journal:  “The goal is to make sure we can get a jury to at least give him a fair trial,” defense attorney Dan Bunin said.

A month ago, a different group of possible jurors was summoned to decide on the robbery case against Morgan. But one by one, they saw his tattoos and his bald head and said they could not be fair and impartial.

“If it’s a certain kind of tattoo, in a certain spot, it signifies something more,”...

In the judge’s courtroom Friday, prison guards, court marshals and prosecutors watched as a cosmetologist spent roughly two hours applying makeup to cover Morgan’s tattoos as he sat at the defense table, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit. With a test of the inmate makeover complete, none of the tattoos could be seen.

The judge walked in. “It looks good,” he said.

9 comments:

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I get everyone is entitled a fair trial, but if you had the notion and went through getting nazi tattoos, shouldn't you live with the consequences of that?

ricpic said...

If you have half-a-brain you DO judge a book by its cover. This hides the cover in the name of accursed fairness.

Christy said...

But, but, but, the tattoos speak to character!

Truthfully I would struggle to be fair. Is it possible to ignore our limbic brains? Is it impossible for some? Yes, we all should try to ignore our emotional response, but what would allow us to do so? Character? Training? What tips us one way or another?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think part of it is how I want to be judged myself. Judging the guy for his tattoos can make me likeable to other jurors or whatever. I want to be seen as far away as possible from that representation.

I would even go so far as to say a white person might be harsher on the guy.

I'm not white, but I play one on TV ;)

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

BTW. My comments are in no way intended to absolve the disgusting tattoos.

Just so we are clear.

Amartel said...

This guy chose to have that tattooed onto his hide. His choice. Probably made him feel like a big man at the time. Being part of a group. Signifying his groupthink indelibly, all loud and proud. Everything's fine until suddenly, unexpectedly, you're accountable to your fellow man. Because you fucked up. Why should the taxpayer be on the hook to erase his freely chosen free speech just because it's suddenly in con venient? Not my problem. I've had to defend guys who are all marked up, prison tats all over them including on their face where you can't cover it. You use it to emphasize the law. You remind the jury that everyone is equal before the law, even douchebags with prison tattoos. It works, too. Not lying to people. That's how you handle it.

The Dude said...

Maybe he needs to be tried by a jury of his peers. No non-Nazis need apply.

edutcher said...

There's all kinds of fair.

Methadras said...

There is a reason why judgment exists. It's so you know what you are dealing with. Yes, I do judge people. Yes, I judge them for who they are and what they do. It's up to me to decide if I want to associate with them. Anyone who tells you in a relationship or is looking for one that they don't want to deal with judgmental people are telling you to look the other way when it comes to their indiscretions of any kind. Bullshit.