Legal News

Bill Cosby Teams Up With Atlanta Judge in ?Cos and Marv Show?

By Dan Slater

Remember that Georgia judge, Marvin Arrington? He felt so badly about kicking white lawyers out of his courtroom so he could lecture a group of primarily black defendants, that he went on CNN a few weeks back to explain and apologize. On TV, Arrington told Anderson Cooper that seeing the same faces walk in and out of his courtroom year after year takes its toll. “I ask them all the the time, ‘What progress are we making with you?’”

Those LB readers who lauded Arrington’s effort, and found his mis-step sympathetic, were of the same mind as comedian Bill Cosby. According to a piece in the Fulton County Daily Report, after hearing of the episode, Cosby called Arrington with a proposition. “‘I want to come to Atlanta and help you in your effort to turn these young people around,’” recounted Arrington. “‘These young people are worth saving.’” (Here’s another version of the article from the Daily Report that includes a nice slide show.)

The two are now “co-coaches” of a newly formed mentoring program, “BeCOS we’re MARvelous.” On Thursday night, the two appeared at an event billed as a “team meeting” of the new partnership, hosted in an Atlanta high school. Joined by others, including comedian Chris Tucker, reports the Fulton County Daily Report, repeated some of the reasons that drove him to clear his courtroom, including a continuing parade of criminal defendants, 95 percent of them black, streaming through his doors.

Cosby said the attention given to Arrington’s decision to speak privately to black defendants was misplaced. “Why not clear the damn courtroom?” he asked. “Judge said, ‘Clear the room, I want to talk to my people. … I want to talk to you, boy, I’ve seen you in here four times.’”

Cosby, according to the report, criticized apathetic parents, teachers, social workers, preachers and “those idiots on the radio, TV and in the newspapers.” Cosby asked: “Who are these people? Get rid of ‘em!”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 28, 2008 (boomark / email).