WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – A criminal defendant in Michigan who is accused of making anti-semitic and racist threats to parents and children at a preschool and synagogue last week, exposed himself to the court in a manner that helped the judge make a decision regarding his custodial status.
The incident occurred in Wayne County Circuit Court when Hassan Chokr pulled his pants down and mooned the presiding judge in a separate case. Following a display of his derrière, Judge Regina Thomas revoked Chokr’s $1 million bond at the request of prosecutors, Law&Crime reported.
Chokr was making a court appearance from jail via Zoom in a 2020 case when he decided to moon the judge. In that incident he is charged with assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, according to court records.
Video from the hearing shows an assistant Wayne County prosecutor say that Chokr had “posted videos and statements on Instagram where he talks about buying guns and in one of his Instagram posts the defendant says ‘Your Jew tactics will only backfire on you, you have no place on this earth, Jew [expletive] Jew mother [expletives]. A storm is coming to wipe you all out of our lives.’”
Meanwhile, Chokr’s microphone was muted as he appeared to be growing increasingly irritated, causing the judge to describe his antics for the record.
“I want the record to reflect that while the court has muted the defendant’s microphone he appears to be yelling and pointing at the camera at the Oakland County Jail,” Judge Thomas said.
When one of the attorneys begins to speak, Chokr turns away from the camera and exposed his butt while contorting his neck and appearing to continue shouting at the camera, according to Law&Crime.
Next, the judge memorializes for the record the defendant’s actions.
“And now he has removed his pants to show the court his backside,” Judge Thomas said. “I don’t know why anyone would think that is appropriate for them to pull their pants down and show the court their behind.”
The judge cited Chokr’s absurd in-court misconduct as well as the recent allegations from the synagogue in ordering his bond revoked. She also reportedly stated that Chokr “seems to be mentally ill,” the Detroit Free Press reported.
Attorney Duane Johnson was representing Chokr. He reportedly said his client was simply “expressing his First Amendment rights and freedoms of speech” during the synagogue incident.
“If we’re doing things that are unsafe … we are infringing on other people’s rights,” Thomas reportedly said in response. “We don’t get to say and do whatever we want to say without the consequences of those actions. And so that’s where your client finds himself today. He exercised his rights, I’m exercising my right to give him a consequence for that. Nothing that any of us do in this life is without consequence.”
WATCH THE HEARING FROM FOX 2 DETROIT:
According to a press release from the Office of Prosecuting Attorney for Oakland County Karen D. McDonald, Chokr faces two counts of ethnic intimidation regarding the incident that occurred at Temple Beth El.
Antisemitism and racism have no place in our country.
This morning, our office issued charges of Ethnic Intimidation following a recent incident at Temple Beth El.
We stand with the Jewish Community in condemning this incident and speaking out against antisemitism everywhere. pic.twitter.com/peMy35IOB2
— Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald (@OCPOMcDonald) December 4, 2022
“Anti-semitic and racist threats or ethnic intimidation of any kind, will not be tolerated in our community, and every such incident will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McDonald said in a statement. “Our office created Oakland County’s first Hate Crimes Unit a little over a year ago to give us the resources needed to call out, investigate, and prosecute these serious crimes.”
His bond in that case was set at $1 million.
