Yes, it is 2008 and this actually happened.
An Ontario judge is at the centre of a misconduct investigation after insisting a witness who is HIV-positive and has Hepatitis C don a mask while testifying in his courtroom.
Three groups have complained to the Ontario Judicial Council about the conduct of Barrie judge Justice Jon-Jo Douglas, who later moved the case to a bigger courtroom in order to create more distance between the witness and the bench.
I think individuals this dumb should not be allowed to be judges. Sweet Jesus.
random aside:
what a mouthful! doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue!
and on topic: moron. people still believe this crap? someone needs to tell this judge to read a book…
I know I should be indignant, but I can’t get over his first name. Jon-Jo? Were his parents circus clowns?
I’m also glad to finally have some wingnuttery to hold over our friends from the Great White North. ;-)
and a rubber in case he happens to trip into someone on the way to the stand.
people are idiots.
I was taken aback – MY Ontario? NEVER! – until I saw mention of Barrie/Alliston. That’s a weird little pocket of the province.
Yeah, one of the problems with our judicial system is that nobody can interfere with judges once they’re appointed. Only they can recuse themselves. For instance, a judge-friend who suffered a stroke was the only one who could say whether or not he could return to work. He is an incredibly intelligent man and returned to the bench after physio etc, but we do know of some wingnut judges that have not made considered decisions about whether or not they are capable of continuing to sit on the bench.
While this is great because it means the government can’t interfere with the justice system and that politics (in theory) shouldn’t count for whether or not somebody becomes and remains a judge, it does lead to some problematic judges…like Jon-Jo up there in Barrie. *sigh*
Unbelievable. It is really great that Jon-Jo is in a position to make decisions over the lives of others. Apply robe, leave brain at door – They should really take that sign down in his chambers.
I thought Ontario had decent K-12 (formerly K-13) education. If he thinks wearing a mask is effective against HIV and Hep C, he probably was traumatized by the SARS outbreak, and too dumb to appreciate the difference.
[...] Feministe, I find this old, but still puke-worthy story about Justice Jon-Jo (sic!) Douglas, judge in [...]
There are no words for this kind of stupidity. As I wrote in my post about this, maybe someone needs to tell dear Jon-Jo that it is very possible that he might have been sitting next to someone with HIV or Hepatitis C in a movie theater, or in the subway, or in a restaurant. He might even have shaken their hands. Because, thankfully, there is no law requiring people infected with either HIV or Hepatitis to wear a scarlet letter pinned to their clothes. If that scares Jon-Jo, maybe he should move out to the forest where he can live his life in isolated assholyness.
Wow. Just wow. The Judge believes HIV is the new everlasting common cold.
I think he might be conflating viruses and ticks.
This guy sounds dumb enough that if someone had simply said to him, “Circle circle, dot dot, now you’ve got your cootie shot,” he would’ve relented on the mask thing.
It’s like the South African politician who said he took a shower after sex to prevent HIV transmission…
Wow. I thought this ended with the death of St Reagan. Could this man be a Tory? The fear of AIDS was real about 30 years ago. Back in those days it was an unknown and only an idiot failed to take precautions. Now we have far better understanding of the disease and its transmission.
He might want to consider sterilizing his office phone first.
i’m a nurse. i don’t always know if my patients have infectious diseases. i take precautions with everyone. that’s because i get very personal sometimes.
the standard precaution for ordinary contact with people you don’t know well is not to have sex with them or share needles or suck their blood. the judge should stick with that.
How magnificently cruel and unnecessary. It’s amazing that people that stupid and ignorant are able to rise to positions of authority.
Wow. Didn’t we cover this in that Tom Hanks movie like 20 years ago?
Individuals that dumb should not be allowed to obtain law degrees.
I can’t believe this is happening in 2008.