EDITORIAL: Judicial cover-up

Just when you think you’ve seen it all … here comes the trial of Bayzle Morgan in the courtroom of Clark County District Judge Richard Scotti.

Morgan is accused of stealing a motorcycle at gunpoint in 2013. He’s also facing the death penalty in a separate case for the murder of a 75-year-old woman a few days before the robbery.

This upstanding citizen also features a plethora of ink from the neck up. His many tattoos include a teardrop just below his right eye, a swastika within a clover under his left eye, the words “Most Wanted” across his forehead and a “Baby Nazi” tattoo on his neck.

During jury selection, some potential jurors noticed the conspicuous artwork and said it made them inclined to pre-judge the defendant.

Judge Scotti responded last week by ordering that Morgan’s tattoos be concealed. It took a cosmetologist two hours to obscure Morgan’s ink during a test run on July 23. And as a panel of potential jurors sat in the courtroom on Monday, his tattoos were again hidden — as they will be each day throughout the trial.

The judge even recessed the proceedings for 30 minutes on Monday for an impromptu touch-up session after some of the makeup had worn off.

Oh, and by the way: Clark County taxpayers are on the hook for this cosmetic makeover. As Review-Journal columnist Paul Harasim pointed out this week, the county has budgeted $1,200 for a makeup artist in what is expected to be a one-week trial — that figure will go up if the trial drags on.

“This is judicial correctness that makes political correctness seem quaint,” Mr. Harasim cracked.

Indeed. Judge Scotti is essentially saying that Morgan’s personal preference for flouting his idiotic beliefs makes it impossible for him to receive justice. That’s simply nonsense, despite the comments of a few potential jurors.

As Mr. Harasim points out, Morgan clearly wants to be viewed as a man with bad intentions. In 2010, a clean-faced, 18-year-old Morgan was sentenced to as many as four years in prison for possession of a stolen vehicle. Since then, he’s made the conscious decision to get tatted up, while continuing to seek and find trouble.

If defense attorneys feel their client’s artwork will make things more difficult for them, they should head down to Sephora on Las Vegas Boulevard and cough up $25 for a tube of Kat Von D Lock-It Tattoo Concealer.

Judge Scotti’s intentions are no doubt honorable. But Morgan is who he is. And that’s precisely what the jurors should see.