Calif. Judge Urged Potential Jurors to Lie about Racial Bias

A state commission rebuked a northern California judge Wednesday for telling potential jurors that they should think of a phony reason not to serve if they couldn't acknowledge they were racially biased. Placer County Superior Court Judge Joseph O'Flaherty, in cases in 1999 and 2000 involving black and Iranian defendants, told prospective jurors they should come up with some other reason to get off the jury if they had racial biases and couldn't admit them. The Commission on Judicial Performance said O'Flaherty defended his statements by asserting that he was condoning lying only in limited circumstances. "We could not disagree more," the commission said in its decision admonishing O'Flaherty. "Lying of any kind is never appropriate in a court of law, the very existence of which is the ascertainment of the truth." [more ]