“A state judge will take over municipal court cases in Ferguson, Mo., the Missouri Supreme Court announced Monday evening. The change comes days after the federal Department of Justice sharply criticized municipal courts in the St. Louis suburb for acting largely as a fund-raising operation that disproportionately fined and jailed black people. Ronald J. Brockmeyer, the current municipal judge, resigned his post effectively immediately, according to a news release sent by a lawyer in his firm,” the New York Times reported tonight.
Update: CBS News reports that, “The Ferguson City Council met in closed session Monday evening, but members left without taking questions and a city spokesman didn’t disclose the purpose of the meeting.” Let’s hope this means the city manager and police chief also are on their way out the door.
Photo: Ex-Ferguson municipal judge Ron Brockmeyer, a blow-dried punk who was rewarded for filling the city’s coffers with poor people’s money with a position paying $56,060 a year for 36 hours of court sessions a year, while also serving as a prosecutor for several neighboring towns, is a tax scofflaw wanted by the IRS for over $170,000 of unpaid taxes.