Having to go to court for any kind of situation is not an ideal way of spending your day, especially in divorce court. Going into divorce court, you know it’s going to be a little messy, but this divorce case has gone viral for the events that occurred throughout.
The A&E YouTube channel shared a video about a lawyer who walked out of the courtroom because of racist comments from a judge. This event occurred in Newark, New Jersey, where Judge James Convery was overseeing a divorce hearing.
On the right side, Benjamin Taylor sat with his attorney, Yvette Ramos Alvarez, and on the left side, Benjamin’s soon-to-be ex-wife sat with her attorney.
A copy of Benjamin’s Social Security earnings statement was requested by his wife’s attorney to establish his total yearly income. Benjamin’s lawyer explained to the judge that Benjamin didn’t have his statements. The judge then replied, “He gets his Social Security every year indicating the earnings he gets. He gets it! He gets it every year. So, she asked for it, why didn’t he provide it?”
The judge then asked if he threw it away, and his attorney replied that they believed he did. With that answer, you can clearly see that the judge was not buying Benjamin’s story.
The judge then claimed that everybody gets their Social Security sent to their home, but Benjamin’s attorney begged to differ. She claimed that hers was sent to her home four years before, and she hadn’t received another for the next three years.
After Yvette Ramos Alvarez’s claim of not receiving any Social Security statements in the past three years, the judge crossed a line and asked, “Well, when did you become an illegal alien?” Being of Hispanic descent as well as the former president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, Alvarez was extremely insulted. After a few seconds of silence, Alvarez replied, telling the judge that his comment was totally inappropriate and then walking out of the courtroom.
She returned, and the judge attempted an apology, but the damage was already done. Alvarez ended up filing a misconduct complaint against Judge Convery, which led to a public reprimand by the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Click the video to watch!
