sws4420
01-19-2006, 11:22 AM
A judge gave Brett Haines a choice Friday: Go to jail or go to church.
The Anderson Township man, convicted of disorderly conduct, immediately chose six weeks of Sunday worship over 30 days in the Hamilton County Justice Center.
But there’s a catch.
Haines, who was accused of using racial slurs and threatening a black cab driver, must attend services at any one of Cincinnati’s predominantly African-American churches.
“It seems readily apparent to me that you don’t like black people,” Judge William Mallory Jr. told Haines. “That’s OK with me. But you have to understand that you are at the whim and authority of a black judge.”
That’s when Mallory offered church as an alternative sentence, an option he said that might broaden Haines’ cultural awareness and, in some small way, could help heal Cincinnati’s “racial divide.”
“If you want to get out of jail, you’re going to have to raise your black consciousness,” the judge said.
Mallory said he was concerned about maintaining a separation between church and state, so he asked Haines if the option would offend his beliefs.
Haines said he was not a church-going man but would like to give it a try.
“Absolutely,” he said when given the choice.
His lawyer, Dennis Deters, said his client told him the sentence might do him some good, and assistant prosecutor Kirstin Fullen raised no objection.
“I don’t know if he’ll have the guts to go through with it,” Fullen said.
She said Haines, 36, was arrested Nov. 26 in Newtown after threatening cab driver David Wilson and Wilson’s wife.
Fullen said the intoxicated Haines threatened to punch Wilson, used racial slurs and said he hated black people.
Mallory told Haines he must attend six consecutive Sunday services, starting this Sunday, and get the minister to sign a church program to prove he was there. Haines didn’t say which church he would attend.
Wilson said he hoped the sentence would work, but he would have preferred Haines serve his 30 days.
“Church don’t change everybody,” he said.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060113/NEWS01/301120001/-1/CINCI
The Anderson Township man, convicted of disorderly conduct, immediately chose six weeks of Sunday worship over 30 days in the Hamilton County Justice Center.
But there’s a catch.
Haines, who was accused of using racial slurs and threatening a black cab driver, must attend services at any one of Cincinnati’s predominantly African-American churches.
“It seems readily apparent to me that you don’t like black people,” Judge William Mallory Jr. told Haines. “That’s OK with me. But you have to understand that you are at the whim and authority of a black judge.”
That’s when Mallory offered church as an alternative sentence, an option he said that might broaden Haines’ cultural awareness and, in some small way, could help heal Cincinnati’s “racial divide.”
“If you want to get out of jail, you’re going to have to raise your black consciousness,” the judge said.
Mallory said he was concerned about maintaining a separation between church and state, so he asked Haines if the option would offend his beliefs.
Haines said he was not a church-going man but would like to give it a try.
“Absolutely,” he said when given the choice.
His lawyer, Dennis Deters, said his client told him the sentence might do him some good, and assistant prosecutor Kirstin Fullen raised no objection.
“I don’t know if he’ll have the guts to go through with it,” Fullen said.
She said Haines, 36, was arrested Nov. 26 in Newtown after threatening cab driver David Wilson and Wilson’s wife.
Fullen said the intoxicated Haines threatened to punch Wilson, used racial slurs and said he hated black people.
Mallory told Haines he must attend six consecutive Sunday services, starting this Sunday, and get the minister to sign a church program to prove he was there. Haines didn’t say which church he would attend.
Wilson said he hoped the sentence would work, but he would have preferred Haines serve his 30 days.
“Church don’t change everybody,” he said.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060113/NEWS01/301120001/-1/CINCI