Posted on December 24, 2020
Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, December 22, 2020
A Fairfax County judge has ruled that a Black defendant can’t get a fair trial in a courtroom decorated overwhelmingly with portraits of White judges and has ordered the paintings to be removed for the man’s upcoming legal proceeding.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard wrote in an opinion issued late Monday that the portraits of past judges from the Fairfax County Circuit Court could create the impression that the court is biased. Bernhard wrote that he won’t allow any portraits to be on display for any trial he presides over.
“… the Court is concerned the portraits may serve as unintended but implicit symbols that suggest the courtroom may be a place historically administered by whites for whites, and that thus others are of a lesser standing in the dispensing of justice,” he continued. “The Defendant’s constitutional right to a fair jury trial stands paramount over the countervailing interest of paying homage to the tradition of adorning courtrooms with portraits that honor past jurists.”
The ruling follows a request to remove the portraits contained in a motion from Terrance Shipp Jr., who is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 4 on charges of eluding police, assaulting a police officer and other counts, The Washington Post reported.
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Public defenders raised the issue in a motion titled Motion to Remove Portraiture Overwhelmingly Depicting White Jurists Hanging in Trial Courtroom. While to some the issue of portraits might be a trivial matter, to those subject to the justice system it is far from the case, Bernhard wrote in his ruling, issued Sunday.
He said he was concerned that the portraits may serve as unintended but implicit symbols that suggest the courtroom may be a place historically administered by whites for whites.
Attorneys stand in front of portraits of white jurists in a Fairfax County courtroom
Virginia judge won t try Black man in courtroom lined with portraits of white jurists
By MATTHEW BARAKAT | Associated Press
Published
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) - A Black defendant s right to a fair trial would be harmed if the jury heard the case in a courtroom lined with portraits of white jurists, a northern Virginia judge has ruled.
The upcoming trial of Terrance Shipp on charges of eluding police will be held in a courtroom that has no portraits on the wall, said Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard.
Bernhard noted that his usual courtroom has no portraits. But jury trials that were postponed during the coronavirus pandemics are now being held in larger courtrooms. The walls of those rooms are lined with portraits of retired judges who are overwhelmingly white, he said.