Twenty-one-year-old Brandon Rutherford was told by an Ohio judge that he needed to be vaccinated within 60 days as a probation condition, according to WCPO in Cincinnati. Rutherford was before the judge being sentenced for a drug conviction back in June.
Rutherford was given probation, but he doesn’t want to get vaccinated. He was wearing his mask in the courtroom, prompting the judge to ask if he’d been vaccinated yet. Rutherford said no. He said the judge then ordered him to get vaccinated in two months or less.
“I’m just a judge, not a doctor, but I think the vaccine’s a lot safer than fentanyl, which is what you had in your pocket,” said the judge. “You’re going to maintain employment. You’re not going to be around a firearm. I’m going to order you, within the next two months, to get a vaccine and show that to the probation office. Okay?”
Carl Lewis is Rutherford’s attorney and said that the judge was not within his power with the vaccine condition.
“When you hear that, you’re like, ‘Whoa, I don’t think the judges are within their powers to do that,'” said. Lewis said. “If he truly believes that he’s within authority to order the individual to get a vaccine, then we’ll have a legal issue to address.”
Wagner said, “The court’s responsibility when issuing a community control sanction is to rehabilitate the defendant and protect the community.” (2) https://t.co/PWqsGNBB14
— Craig Cheatham (@CheathamWCPO) August 6, 2021
The judge, Christopher Wagner, issued a statement noting that Rutherford nor his attorney objected to being vaccinated. He also noted that the drug Rutherford was caught with was deadlier than the coronavirus or the vaccine, per the Associated Press, and seemingly walked-back his sentencing condition.
“This defendant was in possession of fentanyl, which is deadlier than the vaccine and COVID 19,” wrote Wagner. “The defendant expressed no objection during the proceedings and stated no medical concerns, and his attorney did not object. We will have to see what happens now that the defendant is expressing opposition.”
