ShareThisBy LISA ROSETTA
Friday, November 03, 2006
Someone has launched an Internet campaign to oust a judge who berated a hunter in court but isn't signing his or her name to the literature.
The Web site www.firejudgelewis.com _ which encourages visitors to "vote no on Judge Leslie Lewis" _ is hosted on a server in Malaysia and registered to someone who requested their identity be blocked.
Whoever it is, the beef with Lewis _ who is up for a retention vote on Nov. 7 _ apparently stems from a hearing in her courtroom in February during which she berated and detained Kent Jacobson, the brother of a defendant charged with a deer-hunting violation, for challenging her assumptions about hunting.
The Web site, which accuses Lewis of handcuffing spectators, bullying people and not letting them answer questions she poses to them, has four links to a March 5 Salt Lake Tribune article, "Judge muzzles hunter in court."
It also features a link to a videotape of the hearing on YouTube.com.
Jacobson said he only found out about the Web site Thursday and is not affiliated with it.
He said he has mixed feelings about anyone or any group using his case as campaign fodder.
"I would like to see her get ... in trouble," he said, "but I don't want her to be really publicly humiliated, either."
In a statement released Thursday, Lewis said she was unaware of the Web site until she received a phone call about it from KSL News.
In regard to the Jacobson matter, Lewis stated, "It's my obligation as a judge handling a criminal calendar to maintain control over my courtroom. I'm constrained by the Code of Judicial Ethics from engaging in further debate or making further comment."
Jacobson's ordeal began in November, when his brother, Michael Jacobson, helped transport a trophy deer that a friend had poached. Lewis, who said she recently had a harrowing experience in which a hunter fired a shot that narrowly missed her head, recused herself from the poaching case.
She began peppering Michael Jacobson with questions.
"Have you ever actually looked at a deer when they're alive?"
Jacobson said yes.
"And it doesn't bother you that you can see their heart beating?" the judge persisted.
No answer.
"I'm asking you a question. I expect an answer," Lewis said.
"Yeah," Jacobson said.
"Were you starving? Did you need the meat?"
Moments later, Kent Jacobson stood up from his seat in the back of the courtroom, sighed and walked out.
His action apparently upset Lewis, who ordered a bailiff to bring him back to the courtroom.
"Why did you feel the need to make such an explosive and clear indication of your displeasure or boredom at being here?" the judge asked him.
"It's not just the displeasure of being bored here. The problem is we have just as much rights as going out and shooting deer as you have the right ..."
The judge interrupted him.
"What are you talking about?" she asked in a loud voice.
Lewis told Kent Jacobson that he had no right to chastise her.
She then told the bailiff to take him to a detention cell. "I don't want to look at him."
"Well, I was bored," Kent Jacobson mumbled as the bailiff walked him out.
After being held handcuffed for about 20 minutes, Kent Jacobson was escorted by a bailiff through another courtroom and released. He has not been charged with any crime related to the exchange with the judge.
Kent Jacobson said he has filed a complaint against Lewis with the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission.
The commission could not be reached for comment.
