Ferguson, USA ‘debtors’ prison judge’ owes $170K in unpaid taxes

This 9 February 2015 video from the USA is called Ferguson “debtors’ prisons” targeting low-income African-Americans – civil rights lawyers.

From the International Business Times:

Ferguson Judge Who Pushed Unjust Fines To Generate Revenue Owes $170K In Unpaid Taxes

By Mark Hanrahan

March 07 2015 12:37 AM EST

A Ferguson, Missouri, judge who was the driving force behind a revenue-generating policy in the city that saw poor citizens fined and often jailed for their inability to pay small penalties has been revealed to owe the U.S. government more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes.

An investigation by the Guardian found that the city’s municipal court judge, Ronald J Brockmeyer, is subject to federal tax liens as the result of tens of thousands of dollars in overdue personal income tax from joint filings with his wife. The paper also found that Brockmeyer owes several thousand dollars in employer taxes for his private law firm, and that he had paid off another three overdue tax bills totaling almost $65,000 since November 2013.

A Department of Justice report on civil rights violations carried out by the authorities was scathing about the practices in Brockmeyer’s court, which it said operates “not with the primary goal of administering justice or protecting the rights of the accused, but of maximizing revenue.”

The department concluded that the court does not act as a neutral arbiter of the law, but rather “uses its judicial authority as the means to compel the payment of fines and fees that advance the City’s financial interests.”

While Ferguson‘s municipal court regularly jailed impoverished citizens who were unable to pay fines for trivial offenses such as parking tickets or jaywalking, Brockmeyer and other senior law enforcement officials routinely dismissed similar tickets for friends and family, or requested others to dismiss tickets that had been issued to them, the report found.

When Brockmeyer ran a red light in neighboring Hazelwood, he emailed Ferguson’s prosecutor, Stephanie Karr, who is also the prosecutor in Hazelwood. Under the subject line: “City of Hazelwood vs. Ronald Brockmeyer,” according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Brockmeyer wrote to Karr:

“Pursuant to our conversation, attached please find the red light camera ticket received by the undersigned,” he wrote. “I would appreciate it if you would please see to it that this ticket is dismissed.” The ticket was subsequently dismissed.

The justice department concluded that the practice of writing off tickets was evidence of a double standard grounded in racial stereotyping.

“Even as Ferguson City officials maintain the harmful stereotype that black individuals lack personal responsibility — and continue to cite this lack of personal responsibility as the cause of the disparate impact of Ferguson’s practices — white City officials condone a striking lack of personal responsibility among themselves and their friends,” the report said.

Ferguson Official Who Makes $1,500 an Hour Via Rinky-Dink Fines Owes $170,000 in Back Taxes: here.

A Wholesale Failure of Missouri’s Judges: here.

Policing for profit: How Ferguson’s fines violated rights of African-Americans: here.

The US Justice Department released a report on Wednesday documenting systematic and wanton brutality, violence and outright criminality on the part of police in Ferguson, Missouri, carried out in violation of the legally protected constitutional rights of the city’s population: here.

‘THE BAIL TRAP’ “Every year, thousands of innocent people are sent to jail only because they can’t afford to post bail, putting them at risk of losing their jobs, custody of their children — even their lives.” [NYT]

Racist, Corrupt Judges Shaking Down the Poor: here.

Related articles

• Tom Schweich, RIP
• Ex-lawmaker blames ‘anti-Semitic whispers’ for Missouri gubernatorial candidate’s suicide
• DOJ Report Said to Show Racial Bias by Ferguson Police
• President Obama Acknowledges Ferguson’s Racist Police Practices Not An “Isolated Incident”
• Will Missouri Elect A Todd Akin-like Governor?
• Michael Brown smeared in United States media
• Peaceful protesters arrested in Ferguson, USA
• Darren Wilson’s Grand Jury is 75% White
• Here’s What We Know About Who Police Killed In 2013
• New Police Videos Released Show Uninjured Darren Wilson