Judge should be removed from office for 'aggression and bigotry,' state high court says
The Supreme Court of Mississippi. Nagel Photography / Shutterstock.com
A Mississippi judge who failed to win re-election last year should nonetheless be sanctioned with removal from office for “aggression and bigotry” he displayed at a flea market, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled.
The opinion upheld sanctions recommended by the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance, Courthouse News Service and the Associated Press report.
The decision (PDF) said then-Judge William Weisenberger Sr. of Madison County was directing traffic at the flea market in May 2014 when he heard a deputy’s radio transmission about a black man who had been inappropriately touching women. According to findings of fact, Weisenberger saw the man, slapped him in the back of the head, used a racial slur, and directed him to run.
The man was mentally handicapped, according to the opinion. Weienberger was wearing a shirt labeled “Madison County Justice Court” at the time, and was carrying a sidearm and pocketknife.
Although Weisenberger was not a security officer, he interfered in the situation “using aggression and bigotry,” the supreme court said. “Clearly Weisenberger’s actions were inexcusable and rise to the level of willful misconduct in office.”
Weisenberger was charged with assault in connection with the incident and pleaded guilty in June. He received a six-month suspended sentence, probation, and 100 hours of community service, and he was fined $500, according to the Clarion-Ledger.
