What Not to Do In Court

Recently an 18 year old appeared by way of a video arraignment. She was in jail and the judge was in the courtroom. The original charge was pretty simple. However, she was in jail having just been arrested the night before. The Defendant was standing at the podium in the jail looking at the camera. The judge was Hispanic and spoke with an accent. An older gentleman he had a “no nonsense” approach to his court calendar.

The Defendant giggled and played with her hair. She laughed and was practically twirling when she spoke to the judge. He was set to handle her case very promptly and would have released her from jail in all likelihood had she played her cards right. Instead, after laughing and twirling her hair throughout the process the judge didn’t see anything funny about her attitude and set her bail at $20,000.00. She turned and said “adios” to the judge. After turning away, she realized that her bail had been set at an amount she couldn’t make she protested and told the judge “F….You”. Now this, obviously, didn’t sit well with the judge.

The judge demanded to know if he had heard her correctly. The Defendant not being smart enough to leave well enough alone repeated her unfortunate comment and gave the judge “the finger”. This gesture is universally known to be one exhibiting an extreme amount of contempt towards the recipient. Since the judge was the recipient he took offense. Having taken offense, he found her in direct criminal contempt of court and promptly sentenced her to 30 days in jail. The Defendant was last seen walking out of view still saluting the judge.

The lesson to be learned from this dimwitted Defendant is that much like a golf caddy, the Defendant should: show up, keep up, and shut up. These are words to live by when appearing in court or on the golf course.