Legal Commentary

Scott Brown: "I was a jerk."

?My mom was on welfare a little bit, and, you know, I lived with my grandparents, I lived with my aunt, whatever. I was a jerk. I had some issues. You know, I was lost. . . . Mom was always working. . . . There was some violence in there where I would be sticking up for my mom and sisters. . . . I may get a little emotional. . . . And one day I was out with some older kids. . . . We were in Salem. . . . I had a pair of farmer overalls, and I stuck some records in them. . . . I was walking out, and a guy caught me.

?And so I was arrested and went over to Salem District Court, and Judge [Samuel] Zoll . . . gets me in his chambers, and he says: ?So, tell me about yourself. I see you like music.? I said, ?Yeah, I love music. I like Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Grand Funk, all that stuff.? He says, ?What else do you do?? And I said, ?I play . . . basketball, and I like to run.? He said, ?How good are you?? And I said, ?Well, I score about 30 or 40 points a game.? He says, ?Do you have any brothers or sisters?? And I said, ?Yeah, a half-brother and some half-sisters,? and he says, ?Wow, that?s great. . . . Do they look up to you?? And I said, ?Absolutely.? He said, ?That?s fantastic.? . . . He . . . looks me right in the eye [and says], ?How do you think they?d like to see you play basketball in jail?? ??

?I was, like, ?Whoaaa.? . . . He says, ?I want you to write me a 1,500-word essay on that very topic, and I want it next week.? That was the last time I ever stole, the last time I ever thought about stealing. . . . The other day I was at Staples, and something was in my cart that I didn?t pay for. I had to bring it back because . . . I thought of Judge Zoll.??

Full post as published by Althouse on January 14, 2010 (boomark / email).