fbpx
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Legal Notices
Lagniappe Mobile
  • News
    • Cover Story
    • Latest
    • Serial Stories
    • Bay Briefs
    • Community News
    • Open Documents
    • e-Edition
  • Baldwin Edition
  • Commentary
    • Damn the Torpedoes
    • Hidden Agenda
    • Beltway Beat
    • The Real Deal
    • Weather Things
    • The Gadfly
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Cuisine
    • The Dish
    • Word of Mouth
    • Beer and Loathing
    • Cuisine Directory
  • Arts
    • Artifice
    • Art Gallery
    • The Reel World
    • Calendar
  • Music
    • Music Feature
    • Music Briefs
    • Music Listings
    • Submissions
  • Sports
    • The Score
    • The Starting Line-Up
    • From Behind The Mic
    • Upon Further Review
  • Style
    • Media Frenzy
    • Mobile Magnified
    • Horoscopes
    • Master Gardeners
    • Style Feature
  • Lagniappe HD

Select Page

Judge apologizes for ‘Engrish’ comment in front of Asian potential juror

Posted by Jason Johnson | Aug 21, 2019 | Latest, News | 0 |

A Mobile County Circuit Judge has publicly apologized after facing backlash for asking a pool of potential jurors that included Asian Americans whether everyone there spoke “Engrish.”

Judge Jim Patterson made the apology Tuesday after making the comments while addressing a group of potential jurors Aug. 19. One of the individuals in the jury pool then posted social media about the “Engrish” comment and other remarks Patterson made that day.

“Jury duty summons for the first time in Mobile. So far, Judge Patterson has said ‘broke ass’ three times and asked if everyone spoke ‘Engrish’ in a racist anti-Asian accent,” the post read. “Horrified me and probably horrified the one Asian man who went up to the bench.”

Lagniappe reached out to the owner of profile who made the post, but did not receive a response. Paterson also declined to speak to a reporter, though he directed questions to a public apology posted on his personal and campaign Facebook pages the day after the comment was made.

In the post, Patterson said it was a joke and denounced any attempt to label him as a racist.

A Facebook post made by Mobile County Circuit Judge Jim Patterson Aug. 20.

“Yesterday, while qualifying the jury pool, I made a joke in very poor taste about whether everyone could speak English. I immediately recognized and apologized for my blunder, and I do so again,” Patterson wrote Tuesday. “The liberals call everyone they disagree with a racist nowadays. I am nothing of the kind.

As for the “broke-ass” comments, Patterson did not apologize. That is unsurprising given that Patterson has publicly called Mobile County’s court system underfunded in a plethora of colorful ways since he was elected in 2016. He said as much in his Facebook post, too.

“As for saying the court system was ‘dead ass broke,’ I certainly did,” he wrote. “I have led the battle to restore court funding in this circuit and in the state and I don’t apologize for telling the jurors how broke we are and why it was so important that these jurors were there in a special jury setting where we had to scrape up the money to even get them to the courthouse.”

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access. During the month of December, give (or get) a one year subscription with TWO months FREE.

Share:

Rate:

PreviousBill makes breakaway cities pay for school buildings
NextEastern Shore MPO moves Aug. 28 meeting to larger venue

About The Author

Jason Johnson

Jason Johnson

Jason Johnson originally hails from Elba, Alabama, and graduated summa cum laude from Troy University in 2011. He’s been a reporter for Lagniappe since 2014, where he covers an array of topics with a focus on county government, local courts and education. Previously, Jason worked for the Southeast Sun (Enterprise, Alabama), the Alexander City Outlook and 94.7 WTBF FM (Troy, Alabama). He’s also been recognized by the Alabama Press Association with designations in general excellence, photography and education reporting. In his spare time, Jason is a guitarist and drummer who enjoys the benefit of regularly playing with musicians better than himself.

Related Posts

Council grills Daphne mayor on DISC funding, infrastructure

Council grills Daphne mayor on DISC funding, infrastructure

August 11, 2015

Nodine charged with harassing communications

Nodine charged with harassing communications

October 26, 2017

City of Mobile to offer wills to low-income families

City of Mobile to offer wills to low-income families

September 13, 2017

Local teen uses Facebook to help FBI nab ‘cyberstalker’

Local teen uses Facebook to help FBI nab ‘cyberstalker’

August 14, 2019

Recommended Stories

New eateries opening and in the works

By Andy MacDonald

Nashville-style songwriters’ round launches in Mobile

By Stephen Centanni

When nothing is true anymore .…

By Ashley Trice

Strange predictions from a stranger visitor

By Rob Holbert

MSO ‘Fanfare’ ushers in new year

By Kevin Lee


  • Advertising
  • About Us
  • Contacts
  • Jobs
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

Search This Site

Browse the Archives

© Lagniappe Mobile 2021

[yop_poll id=”-1″]