A convicted sex offender faces a retrial because a judge in the case did not like the fact he used Arial typeface on letters and said as much on Facebook.
According to the Technology and Workplace Blog, an unnamed sex offender [John Doe] was fighting the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board’s decision that he needed to register as a level three sex offender. As part of the normal administrative process, Doe’s case went to hearing examiner Tyson Lynch, who ruled against Doe.
However, Lynch made some huge mistakes by posting a lot of rubbish about the case on Facebook. The list was long, but one of the more memorable was the fact that he could not trust anyone who used the Arial typeface.
He ranted that the Arial font is “not appropriate for motions” followed up with “I might be biased. I think Arial is inappropriate for most things”.
Other mutterings were obviously worse such as the observation, posted during working hours that “it’s always a mistake when people testify, because they get destroyed in cross examination.”
In another case, the hearing examiner also posted that he “hopes this guy doesn’t show up!!” which was followed up with “Tyson Lynch says yay!! He didn’t show up!”
Oh and don’t use the word ‘lascivious’ in Lynch’s court either, he does not like it.
His Facebook rants tend to dub sex offenders as pervs which another court thought was a bit on the nose.
When the appeal was heard and Lynch’s Facebook page shown, an appeal court said that the comments were “unquestionably inappropriate, unprofessional, troubling, and suggestive of a prejudicial predisposition”.
The remarks imply Lynch made unwarranted negative presumptions against the people he evaluated and was biased against Spanish speakers, and ruled based on the fonts used in written submissions rather than legal arguments.
Due to Lynch’s apparent bias, the court vacated the registry board’s ruling against Doe and granted Doe another hearing. Now every case that Lynch heard could be susceptible to similar claims of bias.
Fortunately, for the US Justice System, Lynch is not working any more. According to Facebook, Lynch muttered that he thought his agency has been the subject of too many news exposes and he might have to seek alternative career plans. According to Linkedin, he is now selling houses as a real estate agent.
Source: TechEye
