Judge Accepts Jerk Chicken in Lieu of Community Service

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Oct 30th 2009 @ 5:00PM

Community service has gone to the birds. Or, for some critics, at least the Chicago legal system has after a judge told a defendant he could either do 100 hours community service or bring him some jerk chicken.

When Darrius Logan plead guilty to misdemeanor battery and criminal trespass charges in August, he told Associate Judge Robert Livas that he'd already worked 100 unpaid "community service" hours at Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken, a South Side Chicago Jamaican restaurant chain. The judge told him to come back in two months with proof he'd completed the community service elsewhere or to bring back enough chicken to feed the court room, the Chicago Tribune reports.

"If you walk in with enough chicken to feed everybody, I'll accept these community service hours," Livas said, according to court transcripts from Aug. 4 obtained by the Tribune. "If you don't, I'm not taking any of them."

Logan returned on Oct. 6 with Uncle Joe's jerk chicken, bread and two sides of hot sauce, the Tribune reported.

An employee at the Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken on South Cottage Grove Avenue -- one of three locations in the area -- told Slashfood that no one had ever come to the restaurant to ask about doing community service there.

Logan told the Tribune he spent $50 on the chicken. "He told me to bring him some chicken, so that's what I had to do."

Just how good Uncle Joe's chicken is will remain a mystery outside of Chicago. Uncle Joe's declined to share its jerk chicken recipe with Slashfood.

The judge, meanwhile, insists that his chicken mandate was actually a joke.

"A defendant took something I said as a joke literally," Livas told the Tribune. "It forced me to keep my word and accept his original (community service) letter. I give him credit -- he made me eat my words," he said. "Last year I'm getting the judge of the year award from the Illinois State Crime Commission, and here now I'm answering questions about barbecue chicken."

What do you think? Did the punishment fit the crime?

Filed Under: Food Oddities
Tags: chicago, jerk chicken, JerkChicken, judge, oddities, poultry, punishment, uncle joes jerk chicken, UncleJoesJerkChicken

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-31-2009 @11:12AM DaTrueDave said... The judge should have arranged for his courtroom to be packed on the day that he would accept the chicken. Packed with poor, hungry people in need of some good jerk chicken. If the criminal thug had managed to feed hundreds of people, it would then still be community service.
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12-31-2009 @10:55AM Carla said... That is so funny.....yet so typical of Jamaican situations........ tee hee hee hee. I needed a laugh very bad this morning. Not only is Uncle Joe's Jerk chicken good. .....EVERYTHING else is good too!
Happy New Year Joe..........see ya at the bashment party!

Rock on Baby!
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