Brown: Pretend judge taking no pause in real-life campaign

Rhonda Crawford, who stands accused of premature adjudication, publicly defended herself for the first time Thursday. Her basic argument: The judge made me do it.

Crawford is the law clerk serving in the Markham courthouse who won the Democratic nomination for a judgeship from the 1st subcircuit, then donned a judge's robes last month and sat on the bench for three cases as part of what she calls a "shadowing" exercise.

The problem was that Crawford had yet to get elected, which, even though she was running unopposed, can't happen until November.

In breaking her silence Thursday, Crawford and her attorney Victor Henderson seemed mostly concerned with heading off a last-minute write-in candidate who has declared her intention to seek the seat.

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