Legal expert blasts Louisiana judge in Madi Brooks case for his 'inappropriate' ... trends now

Legal experts have blasted a judge for making 'inappropriate comments' while deciding on bond for the four defendants charged in connection with the rape of LSU student Madi Brooks.

The 19-year-old died after being hit by a ride-share car at 3am on January 15 when she was dropped off by four men who picked her up at a college bar.

Madi, a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, was seen 'drunkenly' staggering into a car with the group before her death, with police claiming she was anally raped by two of them as two others watched.

Louisiana Judge Brad Myers set bond for the three adults involved in the incident on Tuesday, with a 17-year-old boy charged with third degree-rape remaining in juvie.

Kaivon Washington,18, is also accused of anally raping the LSU student and filming her slurring her words after the alleged assault on January 15.

Everett Lee, 28 - Washington's uncle - and the driver of the car Casen Carver, 18, were arrested and charged as accomplices to the third-degree rape.

Madi Brooks, 19, died after being hit by a ride-share car at 3am on January 15 when she was dropped off by four men who picked her up at a college bar

Louisiana Judge Brad Myers (right) set bond for the three adults involved in the incident on Tuesday. Civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer (left) has blasted the comments made by the judge as 'inappropriate'

Washington's lawyer argued that the footage would prove the innocence of the accused, but Myers said that the 'evidence was clear' and showed proof of criminality – with the men 'callously' laughing at Madi.

But a legal expert has slammed the judge for the 'inappropriate comment, saying it will 'taint the public and potential jury pool' against the defendants.

Adanté Pointer, civil rights attorney and co-founder of Oakland, California-based Pointer and Buelna, Lawyers for the People, said that the defendants should 'make efforts' to remove Judge Myers from the case.

Pointer told DailyMail.com: 'In a bond hearing, the judge is really just meant to determine whether or not the person can be released from custody.

'It is inappropriate to comment on the strength of the evidence or the guilt of the accused. The principle is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

'Determining bond or the conditions of release are only there to ensure that person shows up to court, not to determine if they are guilty or innocent. Or how guilty they appear to him.

Casen Carver, 18, (left) Kaivon Washington, 18, (center) and Everett Lee, 28, (right) were all arrested on rape-related charges together with an unnamed 17-year-old boy. Carver is being held on a $50,000 bond, Lee on a $75,000 bond, and Washington on a $150,000 bond.

The group were seen leaving the bar at 1.49am, and the vehicle was last seen at 1.59am – with Carver telling police that the 17-year-old and Washington both had sex with the victim in the back seat of the car

Madison 'Madi' Brooks, 19, had been out drinking at Reggie's bar in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the night of her death

Shocking incidents at LSU bar Reggie's, where Madi Brooks was last seen

Reggie's bar, an infamous Baton Rouge venue known for underage drinking and violence, has had its liquor license suspended again following the death of 19-year-old Madi Brooks.

The bar owner, Darin Adams, whose sports bar is known for its taxidermy animal heads and confederate flag décor, has refused to comment.

Adams has been in hot water before, with Baton Rouge police raiding the bar in July 2017 and suspending its license for 45 days, after 37 people were arrested - many of them for underage drinking.

In September 2015 a drunk 21-year-old was arrested for waving a loaded firearm at people, threatening to open fire.

The following month, a 19-year-old man was charged with rape after attacking an intoxicated woman who had become separated from her sister at the bar and was trying to find her way home.

And in January 2016, a star of the LSU football team, Dillon Gordon, 22, was stabbed multiple times in the bar.

In May 2022, 16-year-old Carltez Tucker was shot dead outside Reggie's, and a 24-year-old woman was injured. Detectives arrested three and said they believed the shooting stemmed from a stolen firearm that Tucker had taken.

'To make those kinds of comments is inappropriate and frankly will taint the public and potential jury pool against the defendants.

'The judge should not even have been looking at the evidence, he has to take the police report as true. He is not supposed to be weighing up the evidence and commenting on the evidence at the bond hearing.

'I certainly think that the defendants should make every effort to make sure that this same judge does not continue on the case because this one has already made a decision in his mind that these young men are guilty.

'The judge has already put his thumb on the scale.'

Lawyer Ron Haley, who represents Washington in the case, argued before the court appearance what happened to Madi was a 'tragedy but definitely not a crime'.

Myers told the court 'the evidence to me is clear,' adding that it was obvious a crime had occurred before Madi died – though the footage does not depict the assault.

He also claimed that there was an argument and she got out of the car, saying that the men 'did not put her off on the side of the road'.

Pointer added: 'This is a very high-profile case and the young men are being charged in a court of public opinion.

'If he the lawyer thought that he has evidence showing that a crime was not committed, then