Criminals will do anything to get out of jail free. The proof: A defendant who called the jurors hearing his case “racist rednecks” now says his harsh words scared them so badly that they couldn’t possibly render an objective opinion in the murder trial.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on that creative bid for a mistrial:

During Wednesday’s hearing, defense attorney Leslie Cory argued that publicity of the case affected the way jurors made their decisions, hurting [Rejon] Taylor’s chance at a fair trial.

“It has been our contention throughout that the ‘racist redneck’ remark is exactly the kind of influence that will provoke fear in people,” she said.

But [Everage] Holloway said discussion about the comment usually was made in jest. “Me being black, I guess you can’t be a redneck and black, too,” Mr. Holloway said.

That would be a great comeback by the alternate juror in the case were it not for the fact that he is as wrong as the criminal. Both are under the mistaken impression, fostered by elite journalists and others, that the word “redneck” is synonymous with “racist” or “bigot.”

We’ve already established the fallacy of that thinking on this blog, but for those who haven’t seen it yet, click the previous two links.

As for Rejon Taylor, if the jury finds him guilty, I hope they tack on some extra time for his malicious accusation that rednecks are by definition racists and thus not qualified to serve on a jury of his peers. And his lawyer deserves public scorn for perpetuating that lie.