MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Judging our judges.
An advocacy group is working to make sure criminal defendants feel confident that the judge hearing their case will be fair.
That group, Just City, released findings this Thursday of a study that went behind the scenes after sending monitors into several Shelby County courtrooms to see how judges are treating defendants.
Just City sends court watchers to sit in on proceedings – volunteers who take note of how a criminal judge runs the courtroom.
The volunteers can be of any background. Just City said they’re as objective as possible.
They used a rubric to rate the judges on a scale of 1 to 4, one being the worst and 4 being the best.
The judges evaluated were Judge Lee Coffee, Judge Karen Massey, and Judge Chris Craft - who got some of the harshest critiques with monitors noting that he "heavily factors race into his decisions and uses racially charged language"
Judge Ronald Lucchesi was also evaluated.
The categories included how the accused is treated, whether there’s access to the courtroom, how and when public defenders are assigned.
So here’s how they fared all four did well on access.
Judge Coffee scored the highest on neutrality and dignity.
Lucchesi came in second in those same categories.
Just City’s Josh Spickler who’s worked as a lawyer for 20 years says most Shelby County judges are fair.
Saying in some instances, not so much.
“Some judges who if you work in the building and work in that system for long enough, you know that they don't do that, and that they are notorious or have a reputation for being rude or humiliating people or trying to embarrass them,” Spickler said.
Spickler went on to say it’s not their goal to run people out of office but let people know how the job of judges is being done.
This was only the first group of four judges to be evaluated.