Judge Joseph K. Williams is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore! The Allegheny County, Pa., judge made headlines Tuesday when he denied a plea deal for a white defendant accused of trying to fight with cops after a traffic stop because he said the prosecutor who offered it negotiates plea deals only for "white boys." Williams, who is black, claimed the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Brian Catanzarite, "comes up with, I think, ridiculous pleas whenever it's a young white guy … if this had been a black kid who did the same thing, we wouldn't be talking about three months' probation." Cantarazite said another prosecutor came up with the plea deal in question, and that he "comes up with offers based on facts." Well, that argument is going in circles. It probably wasn't wise for Williams to take out his anger on a first-time offender who might have deserved a plea deal, but just imagine the kinds of things he sees on the bench day in and day out. Can you blame him for being frustrated?
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Lauren is a former Deputy Editor of The Root.
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