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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'Are you the defendant?': Black law student mistaken for defendant at court
Crockton, who is conditionally barred in Rhode Island, said she was nervous, but excited when she arrived at court last Thursday for a pretrial hearing. She would normally be accompanied by her supervising attorney, but he hadnt yet arrived when a sheriffs deputy asked her to step out of a line of attorneys waiting to enter the courtroom, she said.
The deputy had talked to some other attorneys on their way in, so Crockton said she didnt think anything of it until they began to speak. She said the deputy told her she was not on his list before asking if she was a defendant.
I was very taken aback. I'm almost never rendered speechless, she said. But in that moment, I realized I would never forget this interaction for the rest of my life because for no other reason that I could contrive, I was mistaken as the defendant in this line of attorneys.
While Crockton has heard other Black attorneys share similar experiences, she didnt want to believe that she was being discriminated against.
So, once I sat down in the courtroom and I'm turning the situation over in my head, I kind of get this realization that maybe I am considering other things outside of race as a way to minimize the situation that had just happened, she said.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/defendant-black-law-student-mistaken-defendant-court/story
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