Oppression or Aggression?

Dr. James Tate is in a brouhaha after taking a swing at a woman

Dressed in a black shawl, frock-like pants and a kufi, James Tate looked like a throwback to the I'm-black-and-proud '60s. And when he spoke on this December day, in front of a dozen or so people outside the main entrance of what he'd re-branded the "Regional Injustice Center," Tate sounded like Malcolm X—not the one who came back from Mecca all lovey-dovey, but the Nation of Islam firebrand who called John F. Kennedy's assassination a case of "chickens coming home to roost." A few times, local Nation of Islam leader Duke Muhammad had to clean up Tate's vitriol.

We are gathered here today, Tate began the press conference, "to address the issue of judicial ambiguity and the unholy influence that the police department has with the court system. It has become clear in Clark County that the municipal courts, and certainly to some extent the District Court, are merely extensions of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department."

If you know anything about Tate, it could be that he could qualify for the job of cop-basher. Or that he's the peevish local head of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Or that he's a neurosurgeon/trauma surgeon—practicing locally for nearly 20 years.

These days, Tate has a new label: criminal defendant.

It started more than three years ago in a Radio Shack on Lake Mead and Jones, when he tried to get a refund for a $75 cell phone battery. Tate refused to give his address, a condition of the refund, and confronted employees. When an intervening female customer hit him with her purse, Tate pushed and punched her, setting off a chain of events that would lead to court cases and dredge up issues of racism, collusion between cops and the courts and what separates self-defense from assault.

Luckily, and unluckily for Tate, the incident in question was caught on tape.


Videotaped Evidence

The camera-doesn't-lie infallibility of surveillance lost luster after the 1992 LAPD acquittals in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. But we didn't see what precipitated the police response—56 blows rained on King—some argued.

The September 20, 2003 videotape clearly shows Tate did nothing to obviate matters. Unable to get his refund, Tate threatens legal action: "We'll see you in court."

Ninety seconds pass and he returns, agitated. "This is bullshit." The property, he says, will get a "redecorated front" if he doesn't get his money back.

Tate tells the manager to "get the f--k out of here," and the employee who was initially helping him, "bitch, shut the f--k up." The cops are called.

A female customer wanders near him. Tate tells her to "get the f--k out of here." They're on the upper right-hand edge of the screen, making it unclear who hit whom first. In a flash, she hits Tate with her purse. He pushes and punches her, then swings at the store manager, who'd tried break things up.

"He f--kin' hit a woman," a female worker tells dispatch. The manager tells Tate to leave.

"He's not going anywhere," Kathleen Griffin says. At this point, everyone's on the phone relating differing stories. The female worker says Tate shoved Griffin, who is "fairly petite ... he could easily overpower her."

Griffin can be heard telling someone, "I'm okay."

On his call, Tate says Griffin pushed him.

"I didn't push shit," Griffin retorts. "I didn't event touch you."

When Tate, on another call, introduces himself as "Dr. James Tate," someone laughs and says, "he's a f--king doctor."

Cops arrive and begin interviews. The video fades to black.


Cops-Courts Collusion?

Tate's battery/disturbing-the-peace case reached Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge Cedric Kerns on February 9, 2006. Because the case is on appeal, court spokeswoman Jill Christensen says Kerns can't talk about it.

In trial transcripts, Tate invokes the same racialized language of the press conference. He retaliated, he says, because "she's not Scarlet O'Hara and I'm not Hattie McDaniel," explaining that "if you've seen Gone With the Wind, there's a scene in which Scarlet O'Hara smacks Hattie McDaniel [upside] the head. And I think that in this political climate with Adolf in the White House [George Bush], that some people think you can chastise the slave any time you want. That's not going to happen."

In convicting Tate, Kerns partially absolved him: "There's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Tate was acting in self-defense. Now with regards to the battery on Ms. Griffin, when I watched this tape, I could see a couple of things that really annoy me. One is the language that's being said with some other person there. But I watched this and what I see along with testimony is Ms. Griffin had absolutely no right to hit you, absolutely no right. When she hits you that, in itself, is a criminal act of battery, and she probably should have been charged. However, when it comes to self-defense, which is the claim here, you may only use force that is necessary. And I watched this and I think, in my mind, I think that you've crossed that ground."

Tate appealed to District Court Judge Valerie Adair who, in a September 15 hearing, echoed Kerns' concerns: "Truthfully, had I been the finder of fact on this I probably would have acquitted him of hitting the gal with the purse and convicted him hitting the store employee because I think also on the tape it's clear the store employee is just trying to break up a fight and then is hit. So I don't agree with the way the judge saw it, but obviously jeopardy is attached on the store employee."

In his conviction, Tate sees the hand of a court system that tries to curry favor with cops—"why is it such a big deal to get their endorsement?"—as well as a police department that's never liked him. One of the behind-the-scenes architects, he claims, is Sheriff Doug Gillespie, whom he refers to as "Reich Furor."

As undersheriff in 2003, Gillespie wrote a letter to UMC brass about the Radio Shack incident. His October 24, 2003, letter expresses concern about an alleged threat. "He repeatedly stated that he was a surgeon in trauma at UMC and he wasn't going to stand for this. He then turned to the officer and stated, ‘There's something I need to explain to you, but it won't happen here, it'll happen when you come into trauma ...' As you can see, this person's behavior is of concern to all of us."

Tate says the letter was meant to get him fired.

Nonsense, says Gillespie.

I ask Tate if his incendiary language—on tape, in court and at the presser, during which he promised to kill anyone who hits him, has hurt his cause. By dint of his stature as a neurosurgeon, you'd think he wouldn't/shouldn't have to resort to name-calling. "It's all true," he says.


When Self-Defense is Offensive

Though judges Kerns and Adair noted that Griffin could've been charged with assault, cases like these hinge on what North Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Stephen Dahl refers to as the reasonable person statute. (Dahl is president-elect of the Clark County Bar Association, which represents nearly 2,500 attorneys.) The law pertains to what someone can do under reasonable circumstances.

"Self-defense is doing what's necessary to stop an attack. If you decide to teach a lesson or retaliate, that goes beyond self-defense," says Dahl, noting that there's nothing in state statutes or local ordinances saying that men have to meet a higher standard of self-defense when attacked by women. "I get lots of these types of cases and the line between self-defense and retaliation can be a thin line."

Even if Tate's appeal is successful—though he was attacked, his sudden and violent reaction makes him like look like a bully; Kerns agreed to lower his fine to a couple hundred dollars if he completes anger and stress-management counseling—the good doctor is guilty of bad judgment. Had he followed through on his litigation threat, this ugly affair could've been avoided altogether.

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