Prosecutor slammed for Hispanic bias comment

Oldham County Attorney John K. Carter is being criticized for saying in open court Wednesday that being Hispanic is reason enough for a motorist to be pulled over by police in his jurisdiction.

Carter vehemently denied that he was referencing the defendant's ethnicity during an exchange with defense counsel and Oldham District Judge Diana Wheeler on a traffic case.

"I was looking at the citation," Carter said in an interview Thursday afternoon. "I thought they were talking about the cop not citing him with a speeding charge."

The case involves Mauro Martinez, who was pulled over by Oldham County Police on July 25 for speeding.

Standing at the bench, Assistant County Attorney Travis Combs said the defense's "issue is he was stopped because he was Hispanic." In the court video recording obtained by The Courier-Journal, Carter, who was also standing at the bench, can be heard responding: "That's probable cause."

"I'm going to act like I didn't hear that," said attorney Dawn Elliott, who is representing Martinez.

"I am too," Wheeler said.

The police citation did not indicate how fast 38-year-old Martinez was driving when he was pulled over.

In a post-arrest complaint, Officer Adrian Doleman said Martinez provided valid registration and insurance for his blue Ford pickup truck upon request. Martinez could not produce a valid driver's license and instead, the officer said, provided identification from Guatemala.

Carter, a Republican and who has been the Oldham County attorney since 2011, said there has been an increase in individuals driving with identification from foreign countries, but that his comments were responding to an earlier part of the exchange about Martinez's charges.

"I never made any reference to the ethnicity of the defendant," he said. "And you won't find it anywhere on the tape."

Elliott said she doesn't believe Carter's explanation, adding he could've clarified those remarks at the bench in front of the judge.

"Clearly he had an opportunity to clear that up on the record over 24 hours ago, but now there's buzz about it," she said. "My reaction and the judge's reaction speaks for itself. We certainly interpreted him talking about probable cause for my client's ethnicity."

Combs, who is prosecuting the case, said earlier Thursday he wasn't sure if Carter made the comment in reference to Martinez's ethnicity or speeding violation. He said there is no profiling of Hispanics in the county.

Elliott, who is running for Jefferson District judge, said Oldham County is becoming known as a place where police pull people over "simply because they're Hispanic." She also raised a concern that the prosecutor's office has a special plea bargain for people with Hispanic surnames who are stopped and don't have a valid driver's license.

"Before we even got to the point of getting to court, the other assistant county attorney, Daniel Fenley, said 'if your guy was to plead guilty here's a guilty plea form that we have for people that have that type of last name,' " Elliot said.

Fenley denied making a reference that the agreement was for Hispanics alone, but said he did present Elliott with an option to make a plea bargain.

"Oftentimes if you have an interpreter and you've got someone here who is a non-English speaking person, there's a question of can they get a license," Fenley said.

"I looked at his last name and saw that he had an interpreter and my question was is he here legally and can get he a license," he continued.

The Oldham County attorney's office offers a 90-day conditional discharge for people cited for not having a driver's license that individuals can accept or reject and seek a trial.

Under the offer, a person who pleads guilty will be on an unsupervised probation for two years on the condition that they do not drive again without an operator's license. If they do, that person is subject to serving a 90-day jail sentence.

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be contacted at (502) 582-4475 or pbailey@courier-journal.com. Reporter Matt Glowicki contributed to this story.