Joseph "Judge Joe" Brown (born July 5, 1947) is an American lawyer. He is a former Shelby County, Tennessee, Criminal Court judge and a former arbiter of the arbitration-based reality court show, Judge Joe Brown.
Video Joe Brown (judge)
Early years
Raised in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Brown graduated at the top of his class at Dorsey High School, then in 1969 earned a bachelor's degree in political science and in 1973 a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at UCLA. While attending law school, Brown worked as a substitute teacher. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Maps Joe Brown (judge)
Career
Brown became the first African-American prosecutor in the city of Memphis. He would later open his own law practice before becoming a judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee.
Brown was thrust into the national spotlight while presiding over James Earl Ray's last appeal of Ray's conviction for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Brown was removed from the reopened investigation of King's murder due to alleged bias--former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia wrote that Brown told her and the Congressional Black Caucus, unequivocally, that the so-called murder rifle was not the weapon that killed Martin Luther King, Jr. It was during this time that Judge Brown caught the attention of the producers of Judge Judy.
In March 2014, Brown won the Democratic primary for the position of Shelby County district attorney. He lost the general election to Republican incumbent Amy Weirich by 65% to 35%, after making comments about her sexuality.
Personal life
Judge Joe Brown is twice divorced and has two sons from his first marriage.
Legal issues
In March 2014, Brown was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with five counts of contempt of court and getting "verbally abusive" during a child support case overseen by Magistrate Harold Horne. Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. According to press accounts, Brown became combative and irate after Horne refused to discuss details of the case that were not on the schedule. Brown was sentenced to five days in jail, but was later released on his own recognizance. Brown surrendered to the Shelby County Sheriff on August 27, 2015 to serve his five-day sentence at the Shelby County Corrections Facility in Memphis. He was released from the Shelby County Corrections Facility the morning of September 1, 2015.
References
External links
- Judge Joe Brown
- Judge Joe Brown on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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