Judges should be retained

To the editor:

I am deeply offended by Wednesday's letter from an elected public official in Cape Girardeau County urging Southeast Missourians to vote against the retention of Missouri Supreme Court judge Richard B. Teitelman and against the retention of Court of Appeals judges Patricia L. Cohen and Booker T. Shaw. His rationale was that the three judges are "liberal."

Judge Teitelman is Jewish. Judge Cohen is both a woman and Jewish. And Judge Shaw is black. That the three judges represent a nearly perfect mix of race, religion and gender perhaps helps us to understand what the term "liberal" must mean to the letter writer.

Another writer opposed the retention of Teitelman because he wrote the majority opinion overturning the second murder conviction of Cecil Barriner. "Majority opinion" means four of seven Supreme Court judges agreed that the conviction was improperly obtained. Instead of blaming Judge Teitelman, you should blame the prosecutor who tried to keep evidence away from the jury and the trial judge who agreed with him. The guarantee of a fair trial is not a "liberal" idea. It is one of the fundamental building blocks of our beloved Constitution, and it is a guarantee that each of us should shudder to think about living without.

Teitelman has overcome blindness to become one of the most widely respected jurists in the state. He has devoted the entirety of his exceptional legal career to public service. He is fully deserving of your vote to retain him on the bench of the Missouri Supreme Court.

JEFFREY ROSANSWANK, Cape Girardeau