Part II – Accusations Against Keith and His Subsequent Retirement…Many want to know is who is this Tom Keith? And what gives him the right to question the judge’s ruling? It seems the name “Tom Keith” has been in the media a lot! A group of about thirty ministers and their followers called for his resignation on September 11th, calling him a “racist” who could not fairly prosecute all persons fairly.
In fact, he “retired” just a couple of months later, only midway through his term. Of course, this may be nothing more than hollow name calling, and if all of the people slinging accusations at him are promoting their own race to the exclusion of other races, it calls into question the quality of any racially tinged claims.
The infamous Hunt case changed the opinions of many about Keith a few years ago. That was a case where a man was convicted twice, in 1984 and again in 1990 for raping and killing a woman. According to reports, DNA evidence excluded Hunt as the rapist in 1994, and Keith did not call for a re-investigation of the case. It wasn’t until the real murderer was found, and he confessed, that Keith apparently acknowledged Hunt’s innocence. That’s a dangerous game to play, as Mike Nifong so recently discovered.
Tom Keith is approximately retired now, he’s sixty-five years old, and he could focus on something else in life like fishing, defending indigent innocents, or suing con artists. He’s left his mark… he’ll be remembered. But causing a huge stir over a lousy traffic ticket on his way out seems trivial.
