Veteran Broward County, Fla., Circuit Judge Charles Greene, the administrative chief of the criminal division, asked to be re-assigned from the criminal bench Tuesday after he was accused of making a racially insensitive remark in his courtroom.

In a letter to Broward Chief Judge Dale Ross on Monday, Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein complained that Greene used the initials “NHI” — meaning No Humans Involved — to describe defendants and witnesses in an attempted murder case involving minorities.