The very title of “Judge” implies that we expect the holder of such a title to actually have good judgement, but there are times it seems that such an expectation is silly. We have recently reported on Delaware’s Superior Court Judge Vivian L. Medinilla, the utterly idiotic distinguished jurist who turned Keith Gibson loose on a probation violation which could have put him away for 6½ years, even though she was aware that he was a suspect in a murder investigation in Philadelphia, but would not consider that in her deliberations. Mr Gibson is now accused of having committed several additional murders after he was released, when he could have been safely behind bars.
Judge Medinilla didn’t even do Mr Gibson a favor. Instead of looking forward to being released after 6½ more years behind bars, Mr Gibson is now going to, if convicted, spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.
Judge Michael McLaughlin, from Cobb County government page.
Now we come to Cobb County, Georgia, Magistrate Judge Michael McLaughlin.
Judge Michael McLaughlin is the Dean of the Cobb County Magistrate Court bench. After first being appointed in 1985, he has served continuously with six different Chief Magistrates. Judge McLaughlin has heard every type of case filed in Magistrate Court and routinely handles the Court’s busy civil calendars.
In addition to his service on the bench, Judge McLaughlin ran a successful law firm for over 35 years. He has extensive experience in criminal law, and before taking the bench full-time, his practice most recently focused on family law and representing injured people. Judge McLaughlin is the co-author of Admissibility of Evidence in Civil Cases—a Manual for Georgia Trial Lawyers, which is updated and published annually. He has taught other judges through the Institute of Continuing Judicial Education and aspiring paralegals at Kennesaw State University.
Judge McLaughlin is a member of the Cobb County Bar Association and the Council of Magistrate Court Judges. He is a graduate of Florida State University and John Marshall Law School. He has resided in East Cobb with his wife Michelle for over 30 years. The McLaughlins have two adult children and attend Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and the Catholic Church of St. Ann.
Sounds like a very serious man, right? We turn to our good friend Robert Stacy McCain:
Austin William Lanz
Crazy people are dangerous
Robert Stacy McCain | August 4, 2021
This is a mugshot of Austin William Lanz, when he was arrested in April in Cobb County, Georgia, after breaking into a neighbor’s home. Lanz, who lived with his parents in Acworth, about 30 miles north of Atlanta, had spent months harassing the neighbor and the neighbor’s fiancée:
He was recorded on video by the security system roaming the house for 13 minutes and turned on all the lights, which police said indicated that he’d been “searching through the residence for something or someone.” He left without taking anything, according to arrest reports and court filings.
Lanz was arrested and booked on charges of burglary and trespassing charges. When informed he was being charged, Lanz objected, saying, “but I didn’t take anything,” the arrest report said. He then made statements to a police officer about how planes had been flying over the neighborhood and tracking his cellphone.
(What part of “crazy” do I need to explain here?)
While being processed at the county jail, Lanz . . . attacked two sheriff’s deputies in the intake area without provocation, including one who sustained a chipped bone and torn ligament in her knee. After he was restrained, Lanz reportedly accused the officers of being “gay” for teaming up on him and asked to be uncuffed so he could fight them one-on-one.
A judge reduced his bond in May to $30,000 and released him, imposing some conditions, including that he not take illegal drugs, that he undergo a mental health evaluation and that he not possess a firearm. . . .
(“Hey, this psycho attacked two deputies, but I’m going to turn him loose, on condition he get some help with his mental health.”)
There’s more at Mr McCain’s original, making his point that crazy people are dangerous. Mr McCain’s article title, Crazy People Are Dangerous is on its 27th usage.
I look at it differently. Mr Lanz, you see, took a bus to our nation’s capitol and killed a police officer.
The man who killed a Pentagon police officer at a nearby transit center Tuesday got off a bus, immediately stabbed the officer and then shot himself with the officer’s gun, the FBI says.
Officer George Gonzalez was killed in the line of duty after a burst of violence on a bus platform outside the headquarters of the U.S. military. The Pentagon was temporarily locked down.
The FBI said in new information Wednesday that Austin William Lanz, 27, of Georgia, is the suspect. Lanz died at the scene. A “civilian bystander” was wounded and had non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the FBI, Lanz got off a bus at the Pentagon Transit Center in Arlington at about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday and “immediately, without provocation, attacked Officer George Gonzalez with a knife, severely wounding him.”
A “struggle ensued” and Lanz mortally wounded Gonzalez.
Lanz then shot himself with Gonzalez’ gun.
Which brings me back to Judge McLaughlin. He was the judge who looked at the evidence, evidence of an obviously crazy man, and turned him loose! As Mr McCain noted, he attacked two deputies, and had been threatening his previous victims with a firearm, but Judge Mclaughlin thought that telling him that he:
- Could not possess a firearm;
- Could not take illegal drugs; and
- Must undergo a mental health examination
would persuade him to be a good little boy, would actually keep him from possession weapons or taking drugs.
Can anyone tell me why Cobb County Magistrate Court Judge Michael E. McLaughlin should not be held accountable for the crimes, for the murder, that an obviously crazy defendant that he released committed? Like Judge Medinilla, Judge McLaughlin did the defendant no favor. Instead of perhaps getting some mental health treatment, instead of perhaps spending a couple of years locked up, Mr Lanz is now stone-cold graveyard dead . . . and he took Officer Gonzalez with him.
If we held judges and parole boards accountable for the crimes of people they let go easily or early, that bovine feces would stop. Criminals would be sentenced to the maximum allowable time under the law, and parole boards wouldn’t release anyone before he had served every last day of his sentence. Keeping criminals off the streets might not be very sympathetic to them, but it would be a whole lot safer for the public.