Judge’s acquittal on gun charges highlights injustice in the justice system

Cook County Judge Joseph Claps once told an ex-cop found guilty of raping a drug addict that “no one is above the law.”

But on Tuesday, Claps proved that in Illinois, judges are above the law they are sworn to uphold.

The veteran judge walked out of a Cook County courtroom unscathed by a video that showed what looked like a handgun fall out of his jacket in the lobby of the George Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

Despite the surveillance video, Will County Judge Edward Burmila acquitted Claps of misdemeanor charges –– the penalty Claps would have faced if convicted of bringing a firearm into the courthouse.

Burmila claimed there was no gun.

“I can’t believe [sheriff’s deputies] would simply walk away from a firearm laying on the floor in the courthouse,” he said.

The two sheriff’s deputies who saw the alleged handgun testified they weren’t certain judges weren’t allowed to carry firearms in the building, so they let Claps go on his way and sought out a supervisor.

More than committing a crime, it seemed like Claps, 70, had an oops moment.

After a deputy chief reviewed the video, Claps, who had a valid FOID card and a permit to carry a concealed weapon, was charged with a misdemeanor and released on an I-Bond.

If this incident had involved an ordinary citizen, the sheriff deputies would not have hesitated rushing up, confiscating the gun and detaining the person.

But as a judge, Claps is the highest authority in our criminal justice system.

Who in that situation would have risked taking immediate action without being absolutely certain the judge was in the wrong?

This acquittal shows why there is so little trust in some communities in our justice system.

For example, just three months ago, Harith “Snoop” Augustus, a barber on the South Side, was fatally shot by police after he was stopped on the street because he appeared to have a firearm in his waistband.

Police didn’t know when they stopped Augustus, 37, whether he had a valid FOID card or a concealed carry permit.

But Augustus didn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

A body cam video clip shows a police officer rushing up to grab Augustus, as he appeared to be showing another police officer something in his wallet.

When Augustus broke away, the incident spiraled into a police-involved fatal shooting that sparked violent clashes between police and protesters in the South Shore neighborhood where Augustus lived and worked.

Video clips released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability purportedly show Augustus reaching for a holstered gun as he tried to run away from police.

We, the public, are expected to believe our eyes on that one.

But we’re not supposed to believe our eyes when a surveillance video shows what looks like a real gun fall out of the judge’s jacket in the lobby of the courthouse.

Thomas Breen, Clap’s lawyer, pointed out in his closing argument that something could appear to be a gun and not be a firearm.

“There are replicas out there, there are cap guns, there are water pistols, there are BB guns out there,” he said.

Right, as if a judge is walking around with a water pistol.

And as if the whole thing were a joke, on leaving the courthouse, Breen dropped a silver, plastic toy pistol on the sidewalk in response to a reporter’s question about whether the judge dropped a toy gun in the lobby of the courthouse.

Not funny.

Everyone makes mistakes.

But not everyone lives to regret those mistakes.

Claps knows the truth.

But he chose to go before the court and make the sheriff’s deputies look like they either don’t know the difference between a toy gun and a real one, or are simply lying.

He could have pleaded guilty and threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was facing a slap on the wrist.

But instead of taking that slap, Claps made a mockery out of the entire legal system that he represents.