Judge Little's Retirement Opens Bench Seat

Summary

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"He'll still be there, hearing cases, but he won't have to come in all the time," said [Joseph James]. "He was always a tireless worker, stern, but if you give him a bunch of cases he tries them."

"We've had desks next to each other for a long time," said James. "I remember one time a mentally retarded defendant bit him in court and he wouldn't leave the bench. He's saying, 'they can't run me off,' and I'm saying, 'Yeah, but you're bleeding all over the place.'"

"I feel it's a sort of social obligation. Judge [Walter Little] said he wanted me to take his seat, I think because it's been almost a decade since a Black judge presided in criminal court," said [Joseph Williams III]. "I'm an active litigator, trying cases in state and federal court. They could put me there tomorrow and I could do it."

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Extract

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Judge Little's Retirement Opens Bench Seat

Though he was loathe to mention it, and never returned calls to discuss it, he finally wrote about it.

Last month, Walter Little simultaneously sent letters to Gov. Edward G. Rende...

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