Judge Larry Potter – Memphis Flyer

There was a weird incident in Environmental Court Thursday. I haven’t seen anything like it in my career.

I was covering the “public nuisance” hearing for Club 152 on Beale Street, which was postponed until Friday. Meanwhile, Judge Larry Potter called a couple of other cases.

Some quick background. My use of the word “cases” may be a little misleading. If you appear in Potter’s court you are accused of creating some sort of public nuisance from blight to noise to running a rowdy nightclub. Most people are there because of their property, and they represent themselves before the judge and a public prosecutor.

A man named Danny Carter was called. He was a short, bearded, stocky guy in bermuda shorts and a shirt who looked like he didn’t take any crap. He was there about his allegedly blighted property. He objected to Potter’s description of the property and offered the comment that he was tired of taking pictures of nearby properties that looked worse. He said he did not have the money to fix his property up. That’s when things got strange.

Potter, in the midst of some fairly unsympathetic comments, called Carter “hoss.” Seconds later, Carter firmly but respectfully took exception to being called “horse” which is not the same as “hoss” but maybe close enough. He told Potter that he “disrespected me.” Potter paused for several seconds, apparently deciding how to respond. Then he proceeded to lecture Carter about disrespecting the court, and called him “hoss” again. Carter did not give any ground and spoke up again, drawing a warning from Potter that “there is a place for you.” A marshal cautioned Carter to keep his mouth shut. Suddenly three of us reporters in the front row were taking notes. Back to his seat in the courtroom he went. I do not know how his case came out but I would be surprised if it went well for Carter.

Now a little context: In the previous case, Potter was nice as pie, complimenting a man on cleaning up his property in exemplary fashion. So impressed was the judge that he asked the man to offer lessons to the court in a future appearance. And in the case that followed Carter, Potter was back to old school and called the man in front of him “sir.” Potter has a good reputation and by his account often works until 6 p.m. But in hundreds of trials and court appearances I have covered, I have never heard a person in the dock addressed as anything but sir, ma’am, Miss, Mrs., or Mr., and that goes for rogues in prison clothes and bluebloods.

I thought an apology to Carter was in order, along the lines of, “sorry about that, won’t happen again, now about your case.” “Hoss” is sort of like Bub, My Man, Bro, or Fella. It is not insulting or racial but it struck me as overly familiar and distracting. Carter’s response, for all I know, could have been influenced by free-wheeling television courtroom shows like Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown. Or a bad experience with a horse. Whatever, a reminder from the judge that decorum is the order of the day would have been proper.

A judge is a god. Gods must be treated carefully. They’re entitled to be human and have bad days. But the rest of us have rights too, and one guy chose to exercise them in his own way. I hope I would have as much sand in the same circumstances and would like to hear what courtroom regulars, witnesses, jurors, judges, lawyers, and defendants think. And my house and yard are squeaky clean, by the way.

In the Memphis Animal Services observation hallway, a tick-infested white pit bull is curled into a tight ball at the back of its cage. As a shelter worker approaches, it lifts its bony head, wags its tail, and runs to the front of the cage, as if hoping for salvation. Its ribs protrude from its skinny body, and mottled scars, likely the result of illegal dogfighting, mark its hindquarters.

Thirty-six pit bulls sit in metal cages along the hallway, the area where vicious dogs are held. The public is not allowed in this part of the shelter. In fact, because the dogs are considered dangerous, shelter volunteers aren’t allowed to walk them. Instead, the dogs eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in their metal cages, which are sprayed down two or three times a day. Many will spend their last days here, eventually put down by a shelter staffer.

On Monday, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick entered a guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges after police uncovered evidence of the activity on his rural Virginia property. The case has drawn national attention to the issue of dogfighting. Memphis police spokesperson Monique Martin says the illegal sport is a growing problem in Memphis.

“We’re having more people call in and notify police that they have reason to believe dogfighting is occurring at a particular address,” Martin says.

Though not all were involved in dogfighting, the number of pit bulls picked up by animal control officers rose by 22 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Last month, four people were charged after Memphis police busted a dogfight in a South Memphis backyard. Animal control officers took six dogs. Several of the dogs were already injured, and a couple of dog owners were preparing pit bulls to fight in a bloodstained area of the yard.

“The setups here in the city are generally in backyards. They’re not professional-type rings,” Martin says. “Anyplace they choose to fight is well hidden, maybe behind a tall fence. That makes it hard for us to find.”

Confiscated dogs are taken to Memphis Animal Services where they are held in the observation hallway while their owner’s case goes through the court system. If the owner is convicted, the dogs are euthanized.

“We don’t adopt out a pit bull unless it’s a puppy,” says Tony Butler, operations manager for Memphis Animal Services. “A lot of these dogs can’t be rehabilitated. … They’re underweight and covered in scars that breed various infections.”

Donna Velez runs Hearts of Gold Pit Bull Rescue. Though she believes many of the dogs could be rehabilitated, she agrees that there is little chance of finding someone willing to adopt them.

“I don’t see that the shelter has any choice. There aren’t enough good homes that will take in a dog like this,” says Velez. “Even if [the shelter] had a professional temperament tester come in and pick out the very best ones that are wagging their tails, what would we do with them? Where would they go?”

Last week, the City Council passed a “vicious dog ordinance” that sends animal abusers to face stiffer penalties in Judge Larry Potter’s Environmental Court.

The ordinance also requires owners of vicious dogs to spay or neuter their animals. Though dogfighters are often charged under a state ordinance that specifically deals with dogfighting and cockfighting, the city ordinance gives authorities more teeth to convict people who do not properly care for vicious dogs.

“A lot of these dogs that are dangerous and vicious are used for breeding purposes in dogfighting. Now the ordinance says, if your dog is declared dangerous, it has to be spayed or neutered,” says Butler. “You can no longer reproduce these dogs for monetary profit.”