Judge Fred Crifasi of the 19th JDC is apparently offering offenders the option of being vaccinated instead of performing community service hours.
Judge Crifasi, according to attorney Ashley Greenhouse, allowed her client to get fully vaccinated instead of completing the final four hours of court-ordered community service.
“He was like, if you show me, we’ll reset the matter,” Greenhouse said. “If you’ll come back and show me you’re double vaccinated, fully vaccinated, then I will give you credit for those hours. I think he was really careful that he was not forcing you; he was not coercing you to do it.”
According to reports, the judge has extended the arrangement to other people who appear in his courtroom in exchange for varying amounts of community service.
Hillar Moore, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney, said his office supports the deals and that more judges should provide vaccinations instead of community service.
Moore said, “What do you want someone doing right now? Do you want them picking up trash on the side of the road or potentially donating services for good causes, or do you want someone to do something for themselves and protect others.”
According to defense attorney Franz Borghardt, the offer lets criminals fulfill their obligations when community service hours are scarce.
“We’re now going into a time period where we are seeing an influx of Covid positive tests, so the ability to do community service is also affected by the ability to do that,” Borghardt said.
He claims that the offer is legal because the judge does not require the vaccine.
“It’s discretionary; it’s optional for the defendant,” he said. “If the defendant says hey, I don’t want to do this, I want to do community service, knock yourself out. If you’ve already gotten vaccinated, it’s even better. I don’t think the community loses out on this one; in fact, I think there’s a strong argument the community wins.”
Moore said, “Look, I think there are a lot of good things that the people can do community service for, but at this particular time, I think it’s a good idea.”
