TheAgitator.com
Jonathan Magbie
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008Good for Colbert King. The Washington Post columnist won’t let the 2004 case of Jonathan Magbie go away. Magbie was a 27-year-old quadriplegic sentenced by Washington, D.C. Superior Court Jduge Juditch E. Retchin to 10 days in jail for marijuana possession. It was Magbie’s first offense. Retchin was well aware of Magbie’s condition, that he needed a ventilator to breathe, and that D.C.’s jails weren’t equipped to handle him. Even prosecutors in the case asked her not to send him to jail. She did anyway. Once he was admitted, the jail’s assistant medical director called Retchin, and begged her to allow Magbie to be sent to a hospital instead. She refused. Magbie soon fell into respiratory distress, and was sent to an emergency room. An incompetent doctor then sent him right back to the jail, where he died hours later.
King describes Magbie’s last moments:
Magbie’s last night at the D.C. jail could be likened to a night in Guantanamo: He was confined in a room with no means to communicate. Conditions worsened when he was returned [from] the hospital. Carbon dioxide was building up in his bloodstream because, without a ventilator, he wasn’t breathing deeply enough.
Magbie, fatigued from fighting to stay alive, drew smaller and smaller breaths and his heart finally gave out.
Last week, Magbie’s mother settled her lawsuit with the city for a “substantial” amount of money.
Judge Retchin is still serving on the D.C. Superior Court. This case should be her legacy.
In cases like these, is it at all possible to win a “substantial” sum of money and request that rather than taking taxpayer money, the judge be barred from ever stepping foot in a courtroom again?
My gut tells me no, but I can dream…
This judge: Rhymes with runt.
Depressing.
http://rightklik.blogspot.com/
I kept reading it as Judge Retched. What an evil [what Mark F. said].
Atrocious!
What ever happened to a system with checks a balances?
The jail should be run by the sheriff, and he (or she) should be able to refuse to incarcerate anyone with medical problems that the jail is not equipped to handle.
The judge was flat out wrong, but remember, the judicial branch has no enforcement capability , that comes from the executive powers of the sheriffs department, or at least that was how things were set up to separate powers in a republic.
Oh, wait, I forgot, we now have privately run jails and no one elects the head of them.
Oh, wait I forgot something else, most sheriffs have no idea how much independence they really have.
He got the equivalent of the death penalty for marijuana possession. How terrible. I wonder if this is “just going by the books,” and if so it makes a strong case for judicial activism (as well as a total revamp of drug policy).
I do not understand how this judge can make medical decisions, that directly result in the death of the young man, yet, cannot be held to the standard that me and any other physician would be held to. She was atempting to practice medicine, was she not? Her decision to not supply the needed respirator directly resulted in the death of the young man. That is murder! I am livid!
If you support life tenure for judges, you get cases like this. Since electing judges gives even worse results, in this case the best option is to fix:
Either
1. The law (allowing the department of corrections to either pay for inmates to be kept in the hospital or release them home in such conditions).
or
2. The prison (equipping every prison with state-of-the-art medical hospice facilities).
I vote for (1)
“This case should be her legacy.”
And it just might be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_E._Retchin
Truly a disgusting case. Somehow individuals need to be held responsible, not just taxpayers.
On a side note, the article said he also had I gun. Why would he have that?
If you are going to vote for prosecutors, judges sheriffs etc. get rid of secret ballots. Have open ballots and if you have a successful lawsuit against these officers then those who voted for them pay for the settlement. Put responsibility where it ultimately belongs.
How does this monster of a woman sleep at night?
My god.
Call it terrible if you want, but if I someday read a newspaper account that she’d been found hacked to pieces and stuffed in a trash bag, I would have to cheer.
I think I can understand how some people could fall for religion in the face of such implacable evil. What else is left?
Curse you Retchin, and everything that’s yours. You have earned the everlasting contempt of your countrymen, and you richly deserve it.
The Judge should be up on charges of negligent homicide.
Someone should arrange a “playdate” with Judge Retchin and Mary Beth Buchanan.
“Calling Jim Bell. Cleanup on aisle five.”
/humor
Yeah, but I’m not laughing…..
That sentence was effectively a death sentence there needs to be some sort of way to do something about a judge like that and not have to page Jim Bell. Such a sentence was simply way out of line. I think if I were in charge of that facility I’d have taken him to the hospital, said to the doctor, “No he can’t go back.” And tell the judge I’m not going to kill a man for her…Hell, I’d do it in public in front of the press just to piss off the cupid stunt.
Forget that. Depraved indifference homicide. In most jurisdictions, that’s 2nd degree murder. Any reasonable person would know the likely consequences of her actions.
Check out this developing story:
http://news.aol.com/article/inquiry-ordered-into-school-graves/273424
#5 Dave: “The judge was flat out wrong, but remember, the judicial branch has no enforcement capability, that comes from the executive powers of the sheriffs department, or at least that was how things were set up to separate powers in a republic.”
Very good observation, Dave. Nice discussion of balance of powers in the criminal justice system. Here in IL, Sheriff’s Dept. jail staff can and do reject injured/ill arrestees. The larger Sheriff’s Offices have medical units inside the jails, but they aren’t equipped to deal w/ cases like the one in this story. Arresting police officers routinely take arrestees to ER’s for treatment, because they know that they will be wasting their time if they send someone out to the “county hotel” with a medical problem. It seems to work pretty well, but I guess they do things a bit better in the “federal enclave.”
“Yeah, but I’m not laughing…..”
Nor am I, Steve. Closing the href tag is pure CYA, my man.
“That sentence was effectively a death sentence there needs to be some sort of way to do something about a judge like that and not have to page Jim Bell.”
Ah, the difference between “ought” and “is.” While I am a borderline pacifist, the logical beauty of Bell’s hypothesis keeps hammering away at me like a bell in the night.
For, you see, force is the only language statists speak.
“Such a sentence was simply way out of line. I think if I were in charge of that facility I’d have taken him to the hospital, said to the doctor, “No he can’t go back.” And tell the judge I’m not going to kill a man for her…Hell, I’d do it in public in front of the press just to piss off the cupid stunt.”
Alas, such courage is the rarest of commodities these days. You and I are Diogenes, lamps in hand, searching for eternity.
This is the downside to judicial immunity, which is why I am against it. This bitch should (but won’t) fry. And I mean fry — no nice clean needle for her, dust off Ol’ Sparky and see how she likes taking a 40kV ride at 500 amps AC. I’d pay for the privilege of pulling the switch.
#19: It seems to work pretty well, but I guess they do things a bit better in the “federal enclave.”
Oops, I did not mean to say that they do things “better” in DC. I think I was going to put “differently,” but I goofed up. My error.
The judge should be charged with manslaughter. At the very least.
I wish that I had the power–for just one day–to decree that the Dishonorable Judith Retchin (how aptly named!) would be barred from presiding over any case at ANY level, or even setting foot in a courtroom–except for her disbarment and sentencing on the charge of criminal negligance–until the time of her death.