Judge blasts public defender for saying suspect fled for fear of police violence

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A Broward County judge blasted a public defender for suggesting that a suspect was being reasonable when he fled officers because he feared he could be the next black man to die in a police encounter after a Fort Lauderdale police officer was shot at.

Judge John "Jay" Hurley told public defender Dale Miller not to "poison" the case by trying to link 26-year-old Stephen Hall Clarke — who was found hiding under a dock and wearing an empty gun holster, police said — to the national debate over race and police-related violence.

"Your honor, in light of what's happening in this country with unarmed black men being killed by police, him running from shots being fired is a very reasonable response," Miller said.

"Don't give me that," Hurley responded. "That is so off base."

"We've got a young man, I don't care what color he is, he's in a neighborhood he doesn't live in at 1:41 in the morning, hiding under somebody's dock in the water with a holster on after a police officer had a shot taken at him," Hurley said, referring to Clarke's arrest.

"Don't hand me this, 'running from police brutality [argument],'" he said. "That is not appropriate in this case. I'm not going to let you poison this case with bringing in something that has nothing to do with it."

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The judge apologized again to Miller by saying the outburst was nothing personal.

"I have a way of drawing that out of people, your honor," said Miller, accepting the apology.

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