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TexasTowelie

(117,223 posts)
Sat Aug 13, 2016, 06:40 AM Aug 2016

Georgia judge loses it over vulgar courtroom exchange

A Superior Court judge in Rome last week completely lost it on the bench during a hearing in which a murder defendant shouted repeated obscenities at the judge and then threatened to kill members of the judge’s family.

A transcript of the hearing shows how an attempt by defendant Denver Fenton Allen to get a different public defender devolved into heated and nasty exchanges with Judge Bryant Durham Jr. At one point, Durham told Allen that he “looked like a queer” and even challenged him to masturbate in front of him in the courtroom.

The judge, while provoked in the extreme, made comments that could land him in trouble with the state judicial ethics agency. He not only exchanged vulgarities with Allen, he also said it was his “guess” that he’d find Allen guilty and that Allen would find out “how nasty I really am.”

Durham would not comment on the incident because the case against Allen is still pending, his office said. Durham, a former private attorney, was appointed to the bench more than a dozen years ago by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Read more: http://legal.blog.ajc.com/2016/06/23/georgia-judge-loses-it-over-vulgar-courtroom-exchange/?ref=cbTopWidget

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Georgia judge loses it over vulgar courtroom exchange (Original Post) TexasTowelie Aug 2016 OP
ah, SheriffBob Aug 2016 #1
judges have been killed. I do not know if I could riversedge Aug 2016 #2
Judges cannot do this kevink077 Aug 2016 #3
I'm sure that's what the defender was going for. nt Xipe Totec Aug 2016 #4
well it worked gopiscrap Aug 2016 #5
Is Exhibatory Masturbation a viable legal strategy? GoDawgs Aug 2016 #6
How the fuck did I miss this? 47of74 Oct 2016 #7
That is a special kind of special, isn't it? TexasTowelie Oct 2016 #8
Conventional wisdom would hold you.... 47of74 Oct 2016 #9
Update: Mr. Allen has been declared unfit to stand trial 47of74 Apr 2017 #10

riversedge

(73,265 posts)
2. judges have been killed. I do not know if I could
Sat Aug 13, 2016, 07:25 AM
Aug 2016

have held my temper if a nasty person such as him threatened my family.

kevink077

(471 posts)
3. Judges cannot do this
Sat Aug 13, 2016, 07:30 AM
Aug 2016

They are supposed to have the temperament to be above this type of stuff. This judge failed that test and must withdraw from this case (at a minimum)

 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
9. Conventional wisdom would hold you....
Fri Oct 7, 2016, 10:16 AM
Oct 2016

...never, never, never, never, never, never say those two special words to a judge for any reason whatsoever.

 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
10. Update: Mr. Allen has been declared unfit to stand trial
Thu Apr 13, 2017, 05:52 PM
Apr 2017

Denver Fenton Allen is not fit to stand trial according to another judge;

A murder defendant, who previously provoked a judge into a vulgar, obscenity-laden exchange, was temporarily declared unfit to stand trail Tuesday, according to the Rome News-Tribune.

Floyd County Superior Court Judge Billy Sparks signed an order Tuesday stating that a recent report by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Heath and Developmental Disabilities concluded that Allen is not fit for trial at this time, the News-Tribune reported.

Allen is expected to be transferred to a state facility where he can again be evaluated.
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