Group Calls For Investigation Into Judge's Alleged Discriminatory Remarks
HOUSTON (AP) — The Texas ACLU is calling for a judicial commission to investigate a Houston judge for making what the group alleges to be discriminatory remarks.
In an interview last week with the Houston Chronicle, state District Judge Michael McSpadden said young black men were some of the individuals he had instructed to be denied no-cash bonds during initial court appearances.
McSpadden said they were getting bad advice from "rag-tag organizations like Black Lives Matter." He also said "almost everybody" who comes before the courts was "tainted."
An appeals court this month upheld most of a federal judge's ruling the bail system in Harris County — home to Houston — was unconstitutional for people arrested for lesser offenses.
McSpadden's court coordinator didn't immediately return an email seeking comment.
