Marcus Epstein’s Case Dismissed; He’s Free to Stumble About the Rest of His Life

So Marcus Epstein, seen here with friend and White supremacist American Renaissance editor Jared Taylor, saw his case dismissed after he showed the court that he met the conditions of his Alford plea. Truly, this was the only way he was going to get out of trouble after getting drunk and attacking a black woman calling her the N-word. Of course, that’s just him getting out of legal trouble. Once this incident ripped through the blagosphere, Epstein became instant pariah. For those who do not remember, Epstein is the Executive Director of Pat and Bay Buchanan’s group the American Cause and Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC. When this crowd started promoting the notion that Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor was a racist because of some quote she made or some group she was a part of, people took note of Marcus Epstein being in their circles. It’s one thing to spout off racist drivel, which Epstein does on a regular basis, but by most accounts, Epstein is probably the first one in a political position such as his to actually get nabbed on a hate crime. Not even Former Louisiana State Legislator David Duke can claim that! The one thing that we need to keep reinforcing however is the fact that had this been an aide to Al Sharpton who committed such a crime, we would have known about this incident when it happened in 2007, and not two months ago when all was pretty much said and done with the case. Fox News would have had story after story, “analysis” from Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, and all hell would break loose if Sharpton kept the person in his employ, even if that person was able to make an Alford plea – which they more than likely would not have been able to do, at least without someone on the right crying foul and how political correctness gone awry. Of course, things like this have a way of correcting itself. At least Epstein isn’t going to law school because of all of this!

Lady Liberty’s Lamp

At about 10 am on July 8th, in the District of Columbia Superior Court, Judge Anderson dismissed the case against Marcus Epstein, who had pled guilty to a class 6 felony hate crime; the prosecutor declined to continue sentencing.
It was determined that Epstein, head of Pat Buchanan’s American Cause and executive director of Tom Tancredo’s Team America, had completed his sentence.

If you’re not familiar with the case, Epstein was arrested in 2007 for striking an African American woman in the head while shouting out the N-word during a drinking spree in Georgetown DC . He first ran from the woman’s husband when he tried to apprehend him, he then ran from and was ultimately apprehended by an off-duty Secret Service officer.

He originally pled not guilty, but as the prosecution presented evidence to increase the charge to a class six felony, he issued an Alford plea, which is a guilty plea without admitting guilt. He did this because, as he scribbled on his paperwork, he felt the state had enough evidence to prove him guilty. Conditions of his conviction and sentencing were: he had to seek therapy for mental illness, go to substance abuse rehab, write a letter of apology to his victim and –the best part– “donate $1000 to the United Negro College Fund”.

It is obvious Epstein has a history of anger problems. We are mindful of the old adage– first time is an accident, second time is a coincidence and third time is a pattern,” so while we cannot definitively say that Epstein is exhibiting a pattern of behavior, we can question if someone with two similar charges on his record is more likely to commit a similar act again.

Proof of this assessment lays in the fact that this is not the first time Epstein found himself in trouble with the law at the bottom of a bottle of booze and exhibiting abusive behavior.

Epstein had similar legal problems only a few years before this incident.

While Epstein was a student at William and Mary in 2004, Epstein faced several charges stemming from an incident where after a night of heavy drinking, he stole a number of food items including a package of cookies from a convenience store.
He then slapped down a female store clerk when she tried to stop him. He ran away and barged into a sorority house as he tried to elude police. He was found by the police in the Sorority house’s women’s bathroom eating the cookies to dispose of the evidence .

Epstein served 14-days in jail – on the weekends – and was ordered to complete an alcohol treatment program and do community service for MADD which involved delivering MADD ribbons to car dealerships .

This incident is remarkable in its similarity to his most recent clash with the law. After drinking heavily and becoming violent with a woman, yet only this time he took it to the next level and his racialist based political views came shining through and he called out racial epithets, then again ran to elude police.

Again, he was ordered to undergo alcohol treatment but faced no jail time, despite his charge being upgraded to a class 6 felony.

Epstein dodged administrative sanction for his antics while he was at William and Mary, and he dodged jail this time, probably because of his willingness to seek alcohol treatment and he is a person with political connections and privilege

If there is a next time, we are hoping the judge will notice that rehab has not been an effective form of treatment for Epstein, as we speculate his problems run deeper than substance abuse issues.  Epstein might have dodged the bullet again, but because he failed to disclose this felony when he applied for the University of Virginia Law School, they cancelled his application.  This is reinforced by the fact that persons with felons will not be admitted to their state’s bar associations in the first place.

Epstein still apparently enjoys his positions as head of Pat Buchanan’s American Cause and of Bay buchanan’s Team America PACs.

Marcus Epstein’s 2004 court docs:

Doc #1  Doc #2  Doc#3 Doc#4 Doc#5