Judge Weller Recovering, Shooter Still At Large
First off, thanks to all my family and friends who have called or e-mailed to check up on me. I'm fine and I'm grateful for your concern.
The better part of my day Monday was spent locked down in the Mills B. Lane Justice Center after a Family Court Judge on the other side of the complex was shot. Apparently he was shot through the window of his chambers overlooking the Truckee River. Right now he is reported as being in serious condition after taking at least one and possibly more shots to the chest, but reports do indicate that he is alert and talking to his family. His assistant also suffered superficial injuries but she's already been released from the hospital.
The shooting took place while I was working in the building (my office isn't in the Justice Center but my job takes me there quite often). Besides me, much of the court staff and a great many people who were just there to deal with traffic tickets or other mundane affairs found themselves spending a great deal more time in the Justice Center than we would have cared to when, at about 11:15 yesterday morning, we were told that no one would be allowed to leave the courthouse until police gave the all-clear. Trapped in courtrooms, at one point we were reduced to playing pictionary with markers and easles that are usually used to draw exhibits during testimony. Later one of the Judges who was stuck in the courtroom just like the rest of us pulled out a Trivial Pursuit game and we all played that for a while. Without exception people stayed calm and law enforcment acted professionally, at least as far as I could see. They finally let us leave around 4 p.m.
I don't practice in Family Court, and I can't say that I know Judge Weller beyond his being a vaguely familiar face in the hallway. But God knows that I'm wishing him all the best today. As for the shooter, he's still on the loose. The police are looking for a "person of interest" named Darren Mack, a rather prominent local businessman who's wife was found murdered yesterday. The two cases are almost surely related as Mack and his wife Charla were going through what is reported to be a nasty divorce and were scheduled to appear in front of Judge Weller for a hearing in September.
So what would motivate a person to commit an act like this, attempting to murder a judge? Like pretty much all judges and most legal professionals, Judge Weller obviously made a few people angry in his time. If you want to a peek into at the sort of anger and hostility that the Judge had aimed at him, page down the comment section of this posting, which started out back in January as a blog post that had nothing to do with Judge Weller but somehow got highjacked in the months that followed into a frenzy of rage, with post after post railing against the Judge. I don't know anything about the specifics behind any of the vitriolic tirades found at that and other sites, but I can tell you that because of the nature of their jobs it isn't at all uncommon for judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals in high-profile positions to amass a collection of stalkers, gadflys, self-appointed Nemeses and plain ol' nut jobs down through the years. And it doesn't help that in order to achieve their own small-minded ends certain political interests have found it expedient to whip up hysteria and anger against what they call "activist judges", creating a general attitude of hostility towards judges and the judicial system which I can personally vouch has become more pronounced of late.
Perhaps in an environment such as we have today this sort of thing is going to become more common, although I certainly hope not. Although I have the upmost respect and admiraton for the Marshals and Deputies who keep our courtrooms in Reno as safe as possible, the fact is that our Judges and other legal professionals put themselves at risk to serve the public, especially in light of the momentous, life-altering decisions that they must make on a daily basis and the highly-charged emotional atmosphere that they must preside over. This goes double for Family Court, where emotions are usually the most raw. Yesterday that reality hit home pretty hard for me and much of the rest of the Legal Community here in Reno.
The better part of my day Monday was spent locked down in the Mills B. Lane Justice Center after a Family Court Judge on the other side of the complex was shot. Apparently he was shot through the window of his chambers overlooking the Truckee River. Right now he is reported as being in serious condition after taking at least one and possibly more shots to the chest, but reports do indicate that he is alert and talking to his family. His assistant also suffered superficial injuries but she's already been released from the hospital.
The shooting took place while I was working in the building (my office isn't in the Justice Center but my job takes me there quite often). Besides me, much of the court staff and a great many people who were just there to deal with traffic tickets or other mundane affairs found themselves spending a great deal more time in the Justice Center than we would have cared to when, at about 11:15 yesterday morning, we were told that no one would be allowed to leave the courthouse until police gave the all-clear. Trapped in courtrooms, at one point we were reduced to playing pictionary with markers and easles that are usually used to draw exhibits during testimony. Later one of the Judges who was stuck in the courtroom just like the rest of us pulled out a Trivial Pursuit game and we all played that for a while. Without exception people stayed calm and law enforcment acted professionally, at least as far as I could see. They finally let us leave around 4 p.m.
I don't practice in Family Court, and I can't say that I know Judge Weller beyond his being a vaguely familiar face in the hallway. But God knows that I'm wishing him all the best today. As for the shooter, he's still on the loose. The police are looking for a "person of interest" named Darren Mack, a rather prominent local businessman who's wife was found murdered yesterday. The two cases are almost surely related as Mack and his wife Charla were going through what is reported to be a nasty divorce and were scheduled to appear in front of Judge Weller for a hearing in September.
So what would motivate a person to commit an act like this, attempting to murder a judge? Like pretty much all judges and most legal professionals, Judge Weller obviously made a few people angry in his time. If you want to a peek into at the sort of anger and hostility that the Judge had aimed at him, page down the comment section of this posting, which started out back in January as a blog post that had nothing to do with Judge Weller but somehow got highjacked in the months that followed into a frenzy of rage, with post after post railing against the Judge. I don't know anything about the specifics behind any of the vitriolic tirades found at that and other sites, but I can tell you that because of the nature of their jobs it isn't at all uncommon for judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals in high-profile positions to amass a collection of stalkers, gadflys, self-appointed Nemeses and plain ol' nut jobs down through the years. And it doesn't help that in order to achieve their own small-minded ends certain political interests have found it expedient to whip up hysteria and anger against what they call "activist judges", creating a general attitude of hostility towards judges and the judicial system which I can personally vouch has become more pronounced of late.
Perhaps in an environment such as we have today this sort of thing is going to become more common, although I certainly hope not. Although I have the upmost respect and admiraton for the Marshals and Deputies who keep our courtrooms in Reno as safe as possible, the fact is that our Judges and other legal professionals put themselves at risk to serve the public, especially in light of the momentous, life-altering decisions that they must make on a daily basis and the highly-charged emotional atmosphere that they must preside over. This goes double for Family Court, where emotions are usually the most raw. Yesterday that reality hit home pretty hard for me and much of the rest of the Legal Community here in Reno.
posted by Yukon Sully | 5:23 PM
7 Comments:
YS:
Judge Weller's been the target of some serious criticism, which can easily be attributed to his job, but seems he gets more criticism than his peers.
I'm wondering if part of the reason is his caseload. Does he volunteer to work on the toughest divorce and custody case? Does his supervisor assign him more of the tough ones than the other judges?
Can you see where I'm going with this?
The day of the fatal shootings in the Atlanta courthouse last year I emailed you and asked you if that had not scared the caca out of you. You said, "Naw." Care to change your tune?
"And it doesn't help that in order to achieve their own small-minded ends certain political interests have found it expedient to whip up hysteria and anger against what they call "activist judges", creating a general attitude of hostility towards judges and the judicial system which I can personally vouch has become more pronounced of late."
Are you suggesting that activist judges don't exist? That would be a statement not even a fully tenured Marxist NYU professor would make!
I think you know perfectly well that wasn't my point, "Anonymous." I'm not interested buying into your agenda and having an argument about whether or not "activist judges" exist. God knows there's plenty of forums where you could scribble about that to your heart's content, and I say go knock yourself out. I'm trying to understand what would motivate a person to attempt to murder a judge, and frankly it seems pretty obvious to me that creating a climate of anger and hysteria about "activist judges" (which is really just code for judges who don't do what you want them to) could easily lead to these sorts of consequences. And save the "Marxist NYU professor" rhetoric, it just sounds silly.
And if you're going to leave an opinion, mainstream or extremist, have the guts to sign your name.
Bob-
I don't really know the answer to your question about Judge Weller's caseload, although he's only been on the bench since January (I think)and so I would assume he's probably got the same caseload as any other Family Court Judge. Family Law is such a highly-charged atmosphere that at least one party and often both parties feel that the Judge was terribly unfair to them. I don't know if Judge Weller made more people angry than the average Judge who's doing his job, but I do know that people feeling that they got screwed and that a Judge is biased against them is pretty typical. Most of those people don't turn to attempted murder, however.
(And save the "Marxist NYU professor" rhetoric, it just sounds silly.)
Just a way of getting a point across. Sometimes humorus stereotypes are as effictive as great writing. I'm not a great writer so I used the stereotype...
(And if you're going to leave an opinion, mainstream or extremist, have the guts to sign your name.)
Ok.
Regards, Art Vandelay
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