Defendant's apology for shouting N-word gets him a reduced contempt sentence
At first, it appeared a defendant in a Kentucky courtroom would have to spend 60 days in jail for shouting the N-word after the judge revoked his bond on drug charges.
Judge Olu Stevens, who is black, sentenced defendant Adam Satterly to 60 days on Monday for his outburst, report the Louisville Courier-Journal and WDRB. Satterly, who is white, shouted “punk ass n—–” as he was leaving the courtroom.
Stevens reduced the sentence on Tuesday to one day in jail, with credit for the day served, after Satterly apologized.
Stevens wasn’t as forgiving on Monday after Satterly shouted the epithet, court video showed.
Stevens ordered Satterly to return and asked, “Is there something that you wish to say to me?” Satterly said he was talking to his brother, not the judge. Stevens said he heard a racial epithet. “No, no, no, I didn’t mean it like that,” Satterly said.
“Well I’ll tell you what. I’m going to hold you in contempt of court for having said that,” Stevens said. “And you don’t speak those words in here. And that word particularly. You don’t use that word.”
DePaul University law professor Jeffrey Shaman told the Courier-Journal for its initial story that the slur was “obviously reprehensible and odious” but the 60-day sentence “does seem a bit harsh.”
Stevens was previously in the news because of his Facebook comments about a prosecution appeal that contests his authority to toss jury panels for a lack of minorities. Kentucky’s top court ordered mediation, but the judge and prosecutors remain at odds.
