Ronald J. Brockmeyer is the municipal judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who up until about five minutes ago had the nasty habit of tossing the local non-white poors in debtors' prison for failing to pay their traffic tickets and other minor fees and fines, while, gosh, he was busy fixing his own traffic tickets for himself and his buddies. As one does if one is an actual scumbag, which the Justice Department's report revealed Brockmeyer indeed is. And not just a scumbag, but a deadbeat scumbag who currently owes more than $170,000 in back taxes, like some kind of guy who doesn't pay his debts and would probably get himself tossed in jail if he had the misfortune of appearing before a jerk-faced judge like, say, Ronald J. Brockmeyer.
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Ah, but it turns out Ronald J. Brockmeyer has the tiniest sense of shame after all. Or at least he's been not-so-subtly nudged by the Missouri state Supreme Court to act like it. And now his reign of terror is all behind us, kind of:
The Missouri Supreme Court announced Monday that it will take the "extraordinary action" of reassigning all Ferguson municipal court cases to the circuit court, starting next week.In a press release, the court announced the move was intended "to help restore public trust and confidence in the Ferguson municipal court division."
Ferguson municipal Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer resigned his position Monday afternoon, a spokesman at his law office said.
Except that Brockmeyer isn't really gone for good because he "will continue his other municipal court positions as prosecutor in Dellwood, Vinita Park and Florissant, and judge in Breckenridge Hills," where either the Justice Department hasn't conducted an investigation yet, or Brockmeyer does not engage in the exact same kind of tactics as he does in Ferguson, which we would (fingers crossed behind our back) totally believe.
The state's Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary R. Russell said in a statement that Brockmeyer's replacement, Judge Roy L. Richter from the appellate court, "is able and willing to implement needed reforms," to which the entire city of Ferguson was said to have responded, "Yeah, that would be a real good start."
Brockmeyer might be sorry he got caught, but based on a statement released on his behalf by Bert Fulk, an associate at the Law Offices of Ronald J. Brockmeyer, he isn't the tiniest bit sorry for his actions. In fact, he has been the victim of "irrelevant and ad hominem attacks." However:
Mr. Brockmeyer recognizes that the Department of Justice report, as well as recent media reports, regardless of their accuracy or validity, have diminished the public’s confidence in the Ferguson Municipal Court.
That's big of him, isn't it? But he's just doing his part to "help Ferguson begin its healing process." Which is why he generously offered to resign when the state Supreme Court told him he would not be allowed to work in the Ferguson municipal court system anymore.
At least this frees him up to focus even more on his private practice, but he might want to update his biographical information before he starts handing out business cards to drum up fresh business:
Seems that once you've been nationally exposed and humiliated and forced to resign in disgrace, you might no longer enjoy the "respect and admiration" of your community anymore. Just a guess.
