The videotape and law enforcement officers of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Judge John Roll saved Ron Barber’s life after both were shot in Tuscon, January 8, 2011. Judge Roll had been appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1991. Barber is an aide to Representative Giffords.
Chief Judge John Roll - image courtesy Wikipedia
Video Shows Chief US District Judge Roll Protecting Giffords Aide as Suspect Fired 32 Bullets, by Martha Neil of The ABA Journal (online edition).
Cameras rolled as suspect Jared Loughner allegedly fired all 31 bullets in the magazine of his Glock, plus another round that was already in the chamber, at a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 8. The videotape indicates that Chief Arizona U.S. District Judge John Roll died a hero during the shootings, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. At the outset of the melee, unidentified sources who have seen the video told the Washington Post, Loughner walked straight up to congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and shot her above the left eye from about two or three feet away. Within moments, Loughner also allegedly shot Roll, who had tried to take cover under a table. As Roll did so, he sought to protect the congresswoman’s aide, Ron Barber, pushing Barber to the ground and getting on top of him … according to Richard Kastigar, the investigative and operational bureau chief of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, who spoke to the New York Times. Chris Nanos, a captain with the Pima County Sheriff’sDepartment, gave a similar description to the Wall Street Journal. Nanos said Roll pushed Barber to move him out of the way, and both men fell to the ground. “It’s pretty evident to me that Judge Roll was a hero,” Nanos told the newspaper. “If Judge Roll had not pushed Mr. Barber, his wounds might have been fatal.”Barber has now been released from the hospital, KVOA reported last week. And Giffords is doing remarkably well, under the circumstances, reportedly moving her lips in attempts to speak. She could be walking within two months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Judge Roll was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in1991 and promoted to Chief by George W. Bush in 2006. At a time when, as a nation, we’re having difficulties having civil discourse, Judge Roll seems to have made tough decisions on their merits. His most controversial ruling seems to have been one which generated threats from right-wingers.
In February, when U.S. District Judge John Roll presided over a $32 million civil-rights lawsuit filed by illegal immigrants against an Arizona rancher, the Marshals Service was anticipating the fallout.
When Roll ruled the case could go forward, Gonzales said talk-radio shows cranked up the controversy and spurred audiences into making threats.
In one afternoon, Roll logged more than 200 phone calls. Callers threatened the judge and his family. They posted personal information about Roll online.
“They said, ‘We should kill him. He should be dead,’ ” Gonzales said. Roll, who is the chief federal judge in Arizona, said both he and his wife were given a protection detail for about a month.“It was unnerving and invasive. . . . By its nature it has to be,” Roll said, adding that they were encouraged to live their lives as normally as possible. “It was handled very professionally by the Marshals Service.”
At the end of the month, Roll said four key men had been identified as threat makers.
The Marshals Service left to him the decision to press charges but recommended against it. Roll said he had no qualms about following their advice.
The recommendation was based on the intent of those making the threats.
“I have a very strong belief that there is nothing wrong with criticizing a judicial decision,” he said. “But when it comes to threats, that is an entirely different matter.”
Excerpted from U.S. Judiciary Facing Rise in Death Threats, by Robert Anglen of the The Arizona Republic, July 9, 2009 (retrieved January 23, 2011).
Many seem to have drawn a direct causal link between political partisanship and the Arizona shootings (See, e.g., Gabrielle Giffords’ father: ‘The whole Tea Party were her enemies’). It cannot be that simple. A Republican judge, after attending Mass, decides to attend a “Congress On Your Corner” event held by a Democratic representative. We”ve not been able to determine if he was a constituent, or had some other particular reason for attending. But we’ve seen no evidence that he had any partisan purpose, and he purposefully put his own life at risk – and lost it – protecting the life of a Democratic congressional aide.
Whatever meaning we learn from, or “spin” we impose on this event – Judge John Roll’s last decision was to save someone’s life. We like to think that was a personal act. But it was not just that; it was a judicial act, consistent with many of some who would live his adult life as an advocate and a judge. In the brief time – seconds – in which he realized what happened and acted, he did the most generous and fearless thing that could be done. If character is what we do when we think no one’s looking, it follows that what we do without time to consider appearances is also a reflection of character.
Men and women like Judge John Roll may be a scarce commodity. People can argue that partisanship and extremist rhetoric caused this event, or made it more likely. But let’s remember John Roll, and his last, human and nonpartisan act. Perhaps he’s set a standard to which we can all aspire.