Joshua Lipka was convicted of resisting arrest but acquitted of assaulting a police officer. (Image courtesy of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
An Oregon court of appeals quickly shut down a local man who claimed he was convicted of resisting arrest because he used a racial slur against the cop who carted him off to jail.
Thirty-seven-year-old Joshua Scott Lipka appealed his 2014 conviction on grounds that his use of the racial epithet made the jury prejudiced against him, The Oregonian reported. He argued that the word is so incendiary that it may have led jury members to find him guilty even though he didn’t resist arrest.
The court wasn’t trying to hear it, however.
A three-judge appeals board upheld Lipka’s conviction, saying the slur showed evidence of his disdain for police. They argued such animosity would give Lipka reason to rumble with a police officer.
The Oregon man was reportedly “looking for trouble” on June 30, 2014, when he got into a scuffle with local officer Kenneth Huntinghouse, according to the newspaper. Afterward, he was driven Multnomah County Jail by officer Rashida Saunders, who said Lipka called her the n-word.
Lipka also referred to Huntighouse as a n—-a, saying he uses to the slur based on one’s behavior, not their race.
He was sentenced to one year in jail and has since served his time.
