Convicted road rage felon shows up in court with blackface complaining he is being treated 'like a black man'
A Hawaiian man who was recently convicted for his role in a violent road rage incident in 2016 shocked the court after he showed up for his sentencing hearing wearing blackface and went on an almost three-minute racially-charged rant where he complained that he was being treated "like a black man".
The 61-year-old Mark Char, of Oahu, was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of assault in March after he stabbed three men when he was cut off by a white sedan on the H1-Freeway three years ago, according to the Hawaii News Now.
Char stabbed the driver of the white sedan five times, critically injuring him, and also stabbed the passenger and a good samaritan who tried to intervene during the incident. But Char claimed he had acted in self-defense. He told the court that he first used pepper spray and that he was forced to use his knife after the driver chased him and started beating him up.
"When I felt the guys pounding me, punching me, and everything," he told the jury. "I just took out the knife and I was trying to swing and stop the guys from attacking me."
However, the prosecution ultimately prevailed and the jury found him guilty, a decision that did not sit down well with Char.
During his sentencing hearing on July 1, he was wheeled into the courtroom sporting his standard orange inmate fatigues and, to everyone's shock, sporting a blackface — which authorities said had been done using a black-colored permanent marker.
Then, he lashed out in a three-minute tirade where he called his court-appointed lawyer "incompetent" and said he was not given a fair trial in Judge Todd Eddins' "kangaroo court".
"Now this kangaroo court is trying to give me a life sentence for me trying to protect and defend myself against the attack from three guys ― in essence, treating me like a black man," he argued. "So today, I’m going to be a black man." The move did not impress Eddins, who said Char's stunt continued his "pattern of disruptive behavior designed to undermine the administration of justice."
He subsequently sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole, based on prosecutors' recommendations, and told him, "What you need to do is look in the mirror. And if you look in the mirror, Mr. Char, you're not gonna see a black person. You're gonna see a menace. You're gonna see a menace to society."