Ep. 2 - Do Black Lives Matter in the Courtroom?

In this episode of May it Displease the Court podcast, your hosts appellate attorney Mary Whiteside and rhetorical scholar Lee Pierce are joined by Erik Teifke, 2nd Assistant Public Defender at the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office. Together, they explore the question: do Black lives matter in the courtroom?

While overt racism does exist, the vast majority of unequal racial treatment occurs due to implicit bias, which we all harbor to some degree and usually avoid confronting in ourselves. That individual sense of implicit bias is certainly a problem. But it is REALLY a problem when it invades the courtroom, causing Black and Brown defendants to face harsher consequences than White defendants.

Mary and Erik were former co-workers at the Public Defender’s Office and throughout this episode they draw on their experiences handling criminal cases to discuss how the courts regularly fail to acknowledge racial bias. Racial bias can permeate and taint every part of a criminal case, from the evidence collected, to the charges filed, to plea bargaining, sentencing, pre-trial motions, all the way up through trial. Erik explores how the current wave of BLM protests have increased awareness of police misconduct and how the groundswell of public attention and support for racial justice can be used to push for the equal treatment.

Erik details the practical ideas and strategies to revamp what it means to zealously advocate for your client. Even after 25 years of practicing Erik has taken the time to think about how he can do better to push the courts to look more critically at the evidence police present, to address implicit racial bias in plea bargaining, to allow for more time to explore jurors feelings around race with the goal of trying to stop the courts from using racial and pro-police bias to victimize BIPOC defendants. 

Click here to take the Harvard Implicit Bias Test

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