A Fayetteville man who was locked up by District Court Judge Talmage Baggett for several hours last week for wearing Voodoo beads in court had another clash with the judge when he returned to court Thursday.
Baggett on Thursday told Abu-Bakr Abdur Rahman to either tuck his beaded necklaces under his shirt or to leave his courtroom. Then Baggett sent Rahman and his court case – Rahman faces a felony charge of obtaining property by false pretenses – to District Court Judge Lou Olivera.
Olivera made no issue of the beads, Rahman said.
Rahman believes Baggett last week violated his constitutional right to freedom of religion when he had him locked up and handcuffed for two hours and 45 minutes in the courtroom’s prisoner box because he refused to remove his beads or tuck them under his shirt. Rahman wears several long, multicolored beaded necklaces, some with religious symbols attached, that he says are part of his practice of his Voodoo faith.
Rahman thinks Baggett treated him wrongly again Thursday because of his religion when he sent him out of the courtroom.
“He’s abusing his chair and he needs to be out of office. He’s abusing it,” Rahman said.
Baggett, through his office, declined to comment on the matter.
A professor at the University of North Carolina School of Government has advised judges “to be sensitive to religious issues in imposing dress requirements in the courtroom.”
Further, “when a potential religious basis for dress appears the court should allow an opportunity to explain and should inquire whether the religious belief is sincere and bona fide. When the attire is not clearly disruptive, it should be allowed,” professor Michael Crowell wrote in a paper presented at a judges conference in 2007.
Rahman is looking for a lawyer to represent him in the matter, and he has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union.
“We’ve received his request for legal help and we’re reviewing it but have not yet agreed to represent him,” North Carolina ACLU spokesman Mike Meno said on Thursday evening.
Rahman has audio recordings of his encounter with Baggett on Thursday.
“I’m not going to put up with Voodoo in this courtroom. This is a problem,” Baggett told Rahman. “You may have a religion. But sir, this is a security problem. And I want you to go to another courtroom and have another judge handle your case. I’m not going to have you in here like this.”
Baggett’s next few words in the recording were obscured by Rahman asking him, “What courtroom you want me to go to?”
“Leave at this time, or put your vestments in. Those are your two options,” Baggett said.
In an interview Thursday, Rahman said he thought Baggett would send his case to another judge because of their prior conflict. He didn’t expect Baggett to say anything about his religious faith.
“That was unnecessary. He’s still attacking the religion itself,” Rahman said.
Rahman left Baggett’s courtroom to appear in Olivera’s. Olivera postponed his case until Aug. 20.
In this case, Rahman is accused of fraudulently obtaining a refund of $27.84 from a Walmart store last year. In his appearance last week in Baggett’s courtroom, Rahman was there to face a misdemeanor charge of communicating a threat. That case is still pending.