MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The video above first aired on Nov. 8, 2021.
The father of a teen fatally shot outside a school in Richfield will remain in jail while a judge considers whether to drop a harassment charge against him.
Cortez Rice appeared at a Zoom hearing Wednesday, requesting that he be given a furlough to continue classes for a career in carpentry, or transfer him to house arrest. Judge William Leary denied both requests.
Rice and attorney Jordan Kushner also asked Leary to drop a charge of felony harassment against him, tied to a protest on Nov. 8 Rice allegedly livestreamed from outside a condo he thought was the residence of Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu.
The judge says he will respond in at least 48 hours on whether the charges in this case will be dismissed.
Rice is the father of 15-year-old Jahmari Rice, the student fatally shot Tuesday on a sidewalk in front of the South Education Center in Richfield. His attorney says his client asked the judge to allow him furlough to plan and attend his son's funeral, a request that was also denied.
"If someone wants to see an example of inhumanity in the criminal justice system beyond a novel like Les Miserables, this would have been an example," Kushner told KARE 11's Jennifer Hoff. "Here you have a man whose son was murdered yesterday and got, other than lip service, he got no consideration whatsoever."
Kushner says he's come to know Rice pretty well over the past several months, insists he is an asset to the community and a danger to no one.
"He has a lot of people he’s helped out, he’s an asset to the community and the county attorney is treating him worse than an animal," Kushner said. "There have been dozens of protests at peoples’ homes over the past couple of years and people might disagree with that tactic and we can argue about it, but it’s not against the law, and the Supreme Court has said those kinds of protests have first amendment protections."
Rice's attorney describes him as devastated, and says the judicial system is preventing him from being a father. Kushner also says he doesn't believe Rice would be in this situation if the case didn't involve a judge.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist:
