A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ordered that a new trial be granted to a Gypsy man who was tried in absentia and sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for swindling two families after finding that the prosecutor, the trial judge and the man’s own lawyer engaged in “ethnic stereotyping.”
“This case presents a shocking example of disregard for constitutional requirements. I find it disturbing indeed that the attorneys for the Commonwealth [of Pennsylvania] would even attempt to justify what occurred in this case,” Senior U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam wrote in his 11-page opinion in Cristin v. Brennan.
