Judge Humiliates Bertie Kids

Specifically, District Judge Rob Lewis orders 16 Bertie kids to parade around downtown Windsor with sign that says "DON'T I LOOK STUPID".





It appears to me there are groups who are unhappy with the growing discipline problems caused by gang members who who are attending our schools. These groups feel parents have failed the kids and that someone should stop the problem. Judge Rob Lewis seems to be a part of these groups and he is apparently very angry about it.

The latest issue to come up is the discipline being ordered for some of the kids who participated in an incident at Bertie High School. There seems to be some minor questions about the details, and though I have left a request with Deputy Sheriff Travis Askew, the officer I was told who handled the complaint, I have not been allowed to speak with him yet. However what I have been told is the following.

Some wannabe gang members got in to an altercation after a dance 3/30 as continuation of a previous altercation between them in downtown Windsor. Toward the end of the altercation, one of them fired a gun to intimidate the other gang as he left in a car. The deputies called the Windsor Police and he was stopped and arrested. The group at the high school were already dispersing in cars, so over the weekend the deputies got arrest warrants and the gang members were arrested the following Monday. The student who fired the weapon has been expelled, but is also a part of the group the Judge is dealing with. Some of the others were charged with fighting and some were only charged with failure to disperse. There were 16 defendants

It was these charges which Judge Rob Lewis dealt with yesterday. It appears that Judge Lewis got his law degree from a college that studied the Pilgrims. The reason I think this? Part of the Judges order was for the kids to parade around the block where the court is situated holding a sign that said "DON'T I LOOK STUPID".

One of the attorneys present said that he thought all of the 16 who were sentenced yesterday, got similar orders from the judge, including the humiliation of carrying a sign around the courthouse block for various lengths of time. I was not present for most of the hearings after the first so I cannot provide details on the others who got similar orders.

The one student whose trial I was present for got the following orders. Judge Lewis ordered him to 12 months of deferred prosecution and in the interim he ordered him to a long list of restrictions and punishments which were to include: read 12 books and do book reports - one each month, adhere to all school officials directives, have no unexcused absences, he was assigned a nightly curfew, and finally the Judge ordered him to walk around the block of the courthouse with a sign that said on one side, "Don't I look stupid" and on the other "I was fighting at Bertie High School". I was told that deferred prosecution meant that if the kid behaved and followed the restrictions, his conviction would be expunged and he would have no criminal record.

Sort of reminds me of the kinds of punishment used in the old days, as seen behind the Revolutionary War Era Courthouse in Edenton (picture above).

For anyone who would like to contact Judge Lewis, his phone and address are included.

W. Rob Lewis,District Court Judge
P.O. Box 643
Jackson, NC 27845

(252) 534-1785

There are a couple of other articles about the actions of Judge Lewis and his attempts to humiliate others. They are linked below:
http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/articles/2008/05/26/news/news2.txt
http://theruleoflaw.blogspot.com/2008/05/judge-rob-lewis-threatens-bertie-school.html