this is just rudolph's courtroom right yeah i wanted to share my thoughts and prayers for judge rudolph all right my staff informs me this is still being broadcast over youtube on something called i've never heard of the eric brandt show uh we are going dark that's my channel and i am not broadcasting but i know you're not you're obviously you're here i wanted to stand here and tell the court and tell the public clearly listening there are lines in the sand judges imposing uh sentences when victims are judges you know murderers have the lowest recidivism rate of anybody and forgers have the highest well then why don't we send forgers to the penitentiary for life if somebody with real power not fake cowardly power real power like i have and i let judge rudolph pound you into the into the candles that's what i would like to do welcome back to the lackluster channel most of you know eric brandt for those of you that don't he is known as the cops guy he recently pleaded guilty to three felony counts related to retaliating against a judge for a phone call and several videos he made on monday april 26 2020 he appeared before judge morris hoffman for sentencing where he faced at the minimum probation or one to six years for each felony count one to thank you council i certainly don't condone what he said as i feel it crossed a moral line the question isn't if his speech was immoral it's whether or not it was legal punishing someone for their thoughts and prayers seems like an egregious violation of eric's first amendment right but you'll have to hear it and decide for yourself but what i really wanted to talk about today was the sentencing a few people spoke highly of eric and then a few victims spoke of their grievances it's about the law it's about being fair about what i should do within the law because that's my oath constitution words have meaning words have consequences and when certain words are spoken or phrases are used they're not protected under the first amendment i'm a big first amendment proponent so the supreme court has also said and stated you just can't say whatever you want to anytime anyplace anywhere there are limits to your first amendment right may not be him but it may be one of the thousands of followers who decide to do that to carry out his thought in his prayer i wholeheartedly believe in everybody's constitutional rights first amendment rights to speak your mind and say what you want to about social injustice mr brant has a large following as we can see here by the number of individuals here on webex close to 400 individuals appearing in support of mr brandt he is a bully who hides behind the first amendment but this is not protected speech his actions are criminal and he has admitted guilt and now he must be punished for it these aren't just words but again calls to action for people who are blindly following eric brandt what people want is eric brant to leave them alone then eric said a few words mr brant you have a right to speak to me before i send you is there anything you'd like to say sir yes your honor first of all i i drove this plea agreement i want the court to know that i think that that my need to accept accountability for the fact that words do have meaning was outweighing any of those potential legal remedies that i might be able to enjoy i have shown in the last year and a half that i'm capable of towing the courts line i need to apologize to my victims we're not here today because i made case law ensuring that people can distribute literature in front of courthouses we're not here because i made case law about what fighting words are as it relates to disorderly conduct i'm not here because i've prevailed on 82 percent of my arrests which are certainly indicative of misconduct at the police level we're not here for that we're not here because of my successes we're here today because i crossed the line i don't know if i cross the line legally my attorneys think that we have good defenses but i think that i crossed the line morally i wanted to stand here and tell the court and tell the public who's clearly listening there are lines in the sand those lines may not be legal lines they might be ethical and more aligned that might pass as legal things but they might not be right i cross the line there are lines i really hope that people take from this that that you can negate eight years of good activism with a single stroke so if i had any followers then i would assume that as of today i probably do not really have that many and that's probably appropriate because i'm not your champion i'm not the guy i didn't make it even if it may be legal it may not be right and that's what i want people to take away from this today i'm asking the court to impose a suspended sentence and probation and i'm willing to accept my bitter pill thank you sir thank your honor finally judge morris hoffman was up to sentence eric and he starts off by explaining how uncomfortable he is sentencing eric because the victims were on his team judges it would be difficult to doubt that playing a huge role in determining eric's sentence perhaps judges shouldn't be the only path to sentencing let me start out with a couple general comments first of all i've never heard of eric brown um uh if he didn't make the sports pages of our local paper or the wall street journal of the new york times i've not heard of him i am as i think all judges would be a little bit uncomfortable being in this position where the victims in this case are judges we are all trained to be hypersensitive about conflicts and this makes me uncomfortable but when judges are victims only judges can impose sentences because only judges have the power to impose sentences could we bring a senior judge in here um to to have done this case sure but it's the same problem the senior judge is still a senior judge with judicial powers the good news i guess is that i'm retiring in four days and so unlike senior judges who will continue to be senior judges i will not be a judge after april 30th i'm not doing the senior judge program i'm not doing any judging so maybe this is sort of the best accidental solution to this intractable problem of of judges imposing sentences when victims are judges our statutes of course require us to consider all the justifications for punishment retribution deterrence incapacitation rehabilitation but i've said this for 30 years from this bench i don't of all of those theories retribution speaks to me more than any of the others um the criminal law is about this social contract that we've all entered into and i want to talk a little bit about that i don't want to go on uh forever but um as i've said before punishment is really about the social contract people who have violated the social contract have to pay to come back into the fold and although we do have to pay attention to deterrence uh and incapacitation and rehabilitation all of these theories have profound limits for me in an incapacitation you know murderers have the lowest recidivism rate of anybody and forgers have the highest well then why don't we send forgers to the penitentiary for life incapacitation is not a sensible at least not a complete theory deterrence i have no idea what deters and what doesn't and there's something unjust to me about punishing uh mr brandt because we're worried that somebody who likes him is gonna do something that doesn't seem fair to me with that last statement there appears to be hope for eric judge hoffman continues on about being a libertarian and not trusting the government and appearing to call eric's supporters loons if they think his statements are okay uh what's appropriate to punish mr brent for what he did not for who he is not for what his followers do not for what he did in other cases this is why i don't pay as much attention to criminal history as some of my colleagues we are all in this together there are lines we cannot cross it's hard for me to say this i'm an unreconstructed libertarian at heart there were aspects of this job that were hard for me i don't trust the government in lots of in lots of dimensions it doesn't matter how many youtube videos or how much press you can get by being loans you're still looms and the widespread dissemination of lunacy does not change the fact that it's lunacy next judge hoffman enters into a rant about what eric deserves as punishment and how judges have real power not fake power real power here's what makes it hard for me in this case mr brown richly deserves the penitentiary and i'm going to send him to the penitentiary but he's and this happens sometimes the person who gets sentenced is sometimes not the person who did the crime they've changed they've grown let me tell you they've always they always say they have whether they have or not i don't know i i take mr brandt at his word i believe he's truly sorry for what he did i was impressed that he talked about how this crossed a moral line no kidding i'd like all of you to think about what how you would feel if somebody with real power not fake cowardly power real power like i have said something like that to you with the power to make it happen it's terrible those of us with real power not fake cowardly power um don't like imposing sentences this is the worst part of my job i get no joy sending people to the penitentiary none and judges who do get joy out of it should retire uh they're psychopaths only a psychopath would get joy out of inflicting the kind of pain that i'm about to inflict on you and i get no joy from it and only psychopaths would get joy from inflicting the kind of pain on judge rudolph and these other judges that you inflicted judge rudolph can take this this next part is where it gets interesting eric is being sentenced for his thoughts and prayers of what he wished would happen to three judges judge hoffman is about to commit the exact same offense but the victim is eric brandt when i was thinking about this case over the weekend i thought here's what i should do i should give mr brandt probation on the condition that he and judge rudolph go three rounds in the ring and i let judge rudolph pound you into the into the candles that's what i would like to do but unlike you mr brown i can't do everything that i want to do i'm bounded by the law i'm bounded by the social contract and i can't just say anything or do anything so there are restrictions on what i can do this behavior deserves the maximum sentence which i'm not going to impose the judge goes on after voicing his thoughts and prayers about what he wanted to do to eric why he wouldn't sentence him to the max for his own thoughts and prayers and sentences eric to 12 years mr brandt on each of these three counts you're sentenced to four years in the department of corrections plus a mandatory two-year parole period these sentences will run consecutive to one another and i have 85 days pre-sentence confinement is that right council 85 days council council 85 days pre-sentence confinement 85 days we'll put that on count one fees and costs in the usual felony amounts is there restitution you're on if i could ask to reserve please restitution is reserved for 63 days the sentencing ends there and a few people turn on their mics to voice their well-wishes to eric his lawyers issued a statement that said quote mr brandt's 12-year prison sentence is disproportionate to other sentences even for violent defenses suggesting the severity of the sentence is based on the status of the victims namely that the victims were judges in the links below you'll find the full video that i have of the victims eric's words the judge's sentencing as well as eric's arrest affidavit let me know what you think was the sentence appropriate was the judge's comments about power and allowing a victim to pummel eric's face into the canvas appropriate do you think the sentencing was influenced by the fact that the victims were judges i'm curious to know thanks for watching if you have a video you'd like me to review email it or send it in via facebook messenger you can also view this and other content on my website if you're new here subscribe for future content if you've been around for a while remember to like share and comment down below of what you think of this interaction shirts and other goodies are available at the teespring store linked below channel membership start at just a buck if you'd like to further support the channel and get a slick lack logo next to your name i'll see you in the next video all links are down below you