While Ferguson, Mo., searches for a replacement for disgraced former municipal Judge Ronald Brockmeyer, the Honorable Roy L. Richter of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, will hear pending and future cases from the Ferguson court.
Before Judge Richter was temporarily transferred to take on cases from the troubled and corrupt Ferguson Municipal Court, he had a record of overturning unfair policies like the ones that plagued Ferguson: in 2013, he ruled against the use of red-light cameras in nearby Arnold, Mo., concluding that the city installed the cameras to generate revenue by imposing fines on car owners.
In a recent scathing report investigating the abusive practices of the Ferguson Police Department and municipal court, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that Ferguson authorities’ policy of issuing arrest warrants and heavy fines to mostly black residents was discriminatory. Residents were often fined for minor city code violations like jaywalking charges and traffic tickets.
The court was found guilty of pressuring police officers to write up citations on its residents, and then slapping on additional fees when they could not make their payments in time or failed to appear for a court hearing.
