Judge Dean, definitely a person who should be removed form the bench with clear examples of discrimination and a rampant exercise of judicial power. Is it any wonder why non-whites feel that racism is still rampant in America, expecially the south, and darn sure especially in Texas. The old exression that “they just traded in their white sheets for white shirts and tie” clearly is exemplified in this case.
First came the poor man, barely 17 years old – too young to buy beer or vote, but an adult under the Texas penal code. He took part in a $2 stickup in which no one got hurt. He pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was put on 10 years of probation.
He broke the rules once, by smoking marijuana. A Dallas judge responded in the harshest possible way: He replaced the original sentence with a life term in prison.
When Tyrone Brown violated his probation by smoking marijuana, he never expected a judge to give him a life sentence. Inset: John Alexander Wood lives in Waco despite being on probation for murder in Dallas County.
There Tyrone Brown sits today, 16 years later, tattooed and angry and pondering self-destruction. “I’ve tried suicide a few times,” he writes. “What am I to make of a life filled with failure, including failing to end my life?”
Now the flip side of the coin, also from Judge Keith Dean’s court: A well-connected man pleaded guilty to murder – for shooting an unarmed prostitute in the back – and also got 10 years of probation.
The killer proceeded to break the rules by, among other things, smoking crack cocaine. He repeatedly failed drug tests. He was arrested for cocaine possession in Waco while driving a congressman’s car, but prosecutors there didn’t press charges.
Judge Dean has let this man stay free and, last year, exempted him from most of the usual conditions of probation. John Alexander “Alex” Wood no longer must submit to drug tests or refrain from owning a gun or even meet with a probation officer. He’s simply supposed to obey the law and mail the court a postcard once a year that gives his current address.
L u k e n . o r g 