Man yawns in court and gets 6 months for contempt.

trekgeezer · August 10, 2009, 11:26:28 AM

Talk about your bad timing!

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/A7551B882CE190D78625760D007E9769?OpenDocument

Doggett · August 10, 2009, 12:10:12 PM

Judge Dredd would love Judge Daniel Rozak.

Psycho Circus · August 10, 2009, 12:29:25 PM

What an absolute joke!

ghouck · August 10, 2009, 02:06:17 PM

It would be nice to know the real details, just actually what this "yawn" comprised of. Some make it sound like he was being an obnoxious ass, which according to the timing, I tend to agree. I mean, you're sitting through a procedure, and the moment they read the sentence is that part that bores you the most.

Look like he could get it knocked down significantly simply by apologizing.

3mnkids · August 10, 2009, 02:57:40 PM

Sounds to me like an abuse of power.

meQal · August 11, 2009, 02:40:35 AM

I find 6 months for yawning a bit excessive. Sure the guy may of done it to be a jerk but 6 months is a bit too much. Also read in the article how the judge has the highest number of contempt charges filed against people in his courtroom out of the 30 judges in that circuit. Sounds like the guy on the bench is a jerk as well.

AndyC · August 11, 2009, 05:47:30 AM

Sometimes I think judges wield a little too much power. I appreciate the necessity of absolute respect for the court, but some of these guys (a minority, I'm sure) take it as a licence to say and do whatever they want, and punish anyone who dares to talk back.

That said, I have a lot of respect for the local criminal court justice here. When I was covering court for the paper, I got to watch the guy in action many times. Very forgiving of people who obviously didn't know how to behave in a court, always respectful and friendly and often getting off a good one-liner. I once heard him tell the accused "As Ricky Ricardo used to say, you've got some 'splaining to do." And he'd always take time to deliver a stern, almost fatherly lecture to the young guys who were mostly there out of some stupidity or other. But anybody who was deliberately misbehaving or trying to waste his time would get a strip torn off. I once saw a teenager who was there with his mom (can't remember what she did, probably drunk driving) get p**sed off because the judge wouldn't accept her guilty plea because she let it slip that she was only doing whatever would speed things along. She was from out of town, and this meant that she'd have to come back another day. So the kid slams the door on the way out. Judge immediately sends the cop on court duty to haul him back in and proceeds to read this kid the riot act, so to speak. However, although he threatened a contempt charge if the kid didn't smarten up, there was only a warning.

I'd say it takes somebody with a lot of character to command absolute respect while remaining respectful and forgiving.

Paquita · August 11, 2009, 08:27:36 AM

It's amazing how offended some people are by yawning. I had a boss that would make you stand up if you yawned in a meeting, but didn't care if I belched in a meeting.

AndyC · August 11, 2009, 08:34:39 AM

And yet yawning can happen so easily and for a number of reasons. Just try thinking about yawning without doing it. I yawned twice while I was typing this post.

Rev. Powell · August 11, 2009, 01:13:25 PM

Quote from: AndyC on August 11, 2009, 08:34:39 AM
And yet yawning can happen so easily and for a number of reasons. Just try thinking about yawning without doing it. I yawned twice while I was typing this post.

I yawned twice while reading... naw, too easy.

ghouck · August 12, 2009, 10:50:50 AM

True this judge nails a lot of people, but it sounds like he lets many of them off after an apology, which I think is important. In my experience, making a person apologize helps the reality of the situation sink in.

But lets not kid ourselves: This was not some quiet, involuntary, hand-over-the-mouth silent yawn, or at least not in the judges eyes (and if it were, how would the judge notice, is it likely he was watching the spectators while reading the sentence?). "it was not a simple yawn — it was a loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings." is what the judge had to say about it, and I tend to believe that for a number of reasons.

The whole situation speaks volumes about that family: Was the person who yawned so accustomed to seeing people he knew being sentenced in a court of law that it bores him to sleep? No, well then was he being the ass the judge makes him out to be by being obnoxious in court?