A judge with a heavy Spanish accent hands down a $5,000 bail judgement -- woman tells judge "adios" -- judge ups her bail to $10,000 -- woman then F's the judge -- earning her an instant contempt of court and 30 days in jail. Right from the start, this woman doesn't appear to have it all together...
-------------- The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. -- St. Augustine
I love stories like this. Where has everyone's sense of treating others with some common decency gone? I believe the words Sir and Ma'am are extinct...
-------------- I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice.
I love stories like this. Where has everyone's sense of treating others with some common decency gone? I believe the words Sir and Ma'am are extinct...
SW Mtn backpacker Born to hike, forced to work ...
Group: Members
Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul. 2006
Posted on: Feb. 05 2013, 6:30 pm
Humble Pie - "30 Days in the Hole" ..
Not surprising as she probably grew up that way and obviously has a hard time thinking the proceedings aren't a joke. More of the younger generations will have problems with authority as adults, as they never took it seriously in the schools.
-------------- Usually Southwest and then some.
In wildness is the preservation of the world. - Henry Thoreau
He should have made the appointment before he ruled on the contempt.
I'm sure she would have kept running her mouth while her appointed attorney was trying to argue the matter, resulting in several more contempt citations, with consecutive sentences, running her total time to 2 or 3 years by the time the proceeding was over.
What did I miss? He says "Bye Bye" lightly - she turns and says "adios" as she leaves and for that he doubles her fine? Granted her reaction to that was juvenile and unthinking but if you earn $200 a week, suddenly getting hit with $10,000 is going to eliminate your thought process temporarily.
-------------- If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. Chinese proverb
My spoiled children had to stack firewood and mow lawns when they were rude. Wish you could put that energy to good use instead of slapping a hefty fine and jail time on her.
-------------- If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. Chinese proverb
Standing before a judge already charged with a crime is a darn good time draw the line on tolerating somebody's BS. I figure her sentence will be reduced and perhaps her record will be expunged after meeting some criteria, but she earned that contempt charge and she gave no indication of deserving leniency.
What did I miss? He says "Bye Bye" lightly - she turns and says "adios" as she leaves and for that he doubles her fine? Granted her reaction to that was juvenile and unthinking but if you earn $200 a week, suddenly getting hit with $10,000 is going to eliminate your thought process temporarily.
I don't think the 10K was a fine - it was bail.
She was charged with a felony and it sounded to me like he was going to let her out of jail on a $2500 signature bond. But after observing her behavior he decided to raise it to assure she returned for further proceedings as she didn't seem to understand the seriousness of the proceedings. The 10K bail got her attention.
The contempt sentence was entirely separate from her charged crime. So now even if she can get her sister to sell that "juw-uhr-ly" for her bail, she is going to sit in the hoosegow for 30 days on the contempt citation.
Wow - I thought the "Adios" comment was right in line with the judge's own "bye-bye' ... doubling her bail for that was, imo, pretty arrogant. If the matter was so serious, then the judge had no business dismissing her with his 'bye-bye' like he did.
The F*** You comment was a predictable response, imo.
Her whole demeanor was not appropriate for court and especially being in front of a judge that is going to sentence you for drug possession.
But one has to understand this is Miami where the weird and strange are ordinary.
-------------- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
I get that her demeanor was inappropriate although I think the giggling may have been more a nervous reaction than wise-assery. I just think his "bye bye" set the tone for her adios and I doubt she was being rude so much as relieved and in a hurry to leave. That said, of course her reaction was way over the line. But probably almost instinct.
-------------- If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. Chinese proverb
I just think his "bye bye" set the tone for her adios and I doubt she was being rude so much as relieved and in a hurry to leave. That said, of course her reaction was way over the line. But probably almost instinct.
I think I can see a bit of that, Echo. The 'bye bye' from the judge was somewhere between faux-friendly and condescending -- the judge was likely taken back by the girl's inappropriately informal demeanor.
I also feel the girl's f--ing reaction was out of line -- but instinctive. Not that any of us knows anything about her life -- but I wouldn't be surprised if hers was a rough environment -- one that didn't teach about keeping proper behavior and hiding one's baser instincts.
I feel sorry for her. More so because I doubt the 30-days in a detention environment or anything else within the system will help turn her around much. I hope I am wrong...
-------------- The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. -- St. Augustine
I could laugh at her, but she reminds me a lot of some of my favorite students, some could be called hopeless cases but I've only given up on two of them so far, and only when they died.
My problem here is I think the girl pissed off the judge early when she laughed and then decided to have fun with her and make the courtroom laugh with him. And I have to wonder if she will ever get out, 30 days but then she's in a fight and then in front of the judge again and it goes on and on??
-------------- If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. Chinese proverb
I wanted to watch this twice, but my computer is acting funny tonight.
My husband is an Assistant DA. The stuff he's seen in the last few years shows a steady decline in 1. common sense and 2. respect for both the general population and the courts. This is just one fine example. Granted, the girl is young and also probably nervous, but she should have had enough sense to have kept her mouth shut. She should have spent less on jewelry and more on education.
When someone is represented by an attorney (appointed or otherwise), they usually meet with them before court and are advised to be quiet unless questioned, and then to answer the question respectfully. They are usually advised to keep their opinions to themselves, and never smart off. She either didn't get the memo, or she decided to ingore it. Either way, no judge is going to ignore a "F-off" kind of comment. She was, in fact, in contempt, and she got what she deserved.
Others were in the courtroom at the time, and should they be tempted to do the same kind of thing - or worse - it served as a learning curve to them. As I said, no judge is going to ignore that kind of behavior, and I don't think he should. The judge my husband used to work for would send folks home (with a sheriff's escort) to change clothes when they showed up in "inappropriate" attire for court. (People who show up wearing a "Beer" - nameless brand here - shirt for their DUI hearing were often surprised by this!)
Should anyone have any doubt, just remember that a judge in his/her courtroom is like a 200 lb. gorilla, and can - by law - act like one.
Granted, the girl is young and also probably nervous, but she should have had enough sense to have kept her mouth shut.
The thing I keep coming back to is that given the type of hearing it is and the clothing she's wearing, she is already in detention. This isn't a kid at the principal's office for sassing a teacher; she has already been forced to relinquish her possessions, undergo searches, and been confined under guard. That's not only where she was coming from, but also where she was returning until she met bail. If that didn't convince her it was a serious occasion, what would?
The reading on the video said she had no priors so some of her behavior could be seen as the disorientation of being in one hell of a strange and scary environment.
while i was a public defender, we had a client who picked up a water carafe and threw it at the judge, who was in the process of exiting the courtroom after refusing to lower bail. the judge re-entered, demanded that the person be charged with criminal mischief for damaging the door and the carafe, and set much higher bail.
if this young woman were out on the street and faced with someone armed with a gun or a knife, do you think she would be cautious and respectful? judges rarely hold that kind of power of a person, but still, it seems to me people are better off showing some respect to a person who has a lot of discretion about whether they are at liberty or incarcerated. being locked up is not fun; it can be a fairly dehumanizing experience.
I just find it sad. I watched it the first time and my thought was "wow, what a brat." Then I watched it again, with a bit more attention.
Yeah, her behavior was inappropriate, I'll give it that. But she was likely scared and had no idea how she's "supposed" act in a courtroom (wasn't given any council at all). Her nervous laughter tells me that as well. She didn't give a direct answer to the question "how much is your jewelry worth," likely because she had no actual idea what its total value is and didn't have the wherewithal to come up with a number under pressure like that. She waffled as best she could, and the judge saw it as dismissive and disrespectful.
The judge's "bye bye" remark seemed kinda condescending, and the "adios" response--although not smart at all--seemed on par with what he'd said (going toe-to-toe with condescending remarks to a judge isn't smart, but that's not where her head was at at that point). I know he's allowed to demand respect in a courtroom, but he could've diffused that quite easily instead of escalating it from the start. An attorney offered to step in and temporarily appoint himself as a defender on her behalf to diffuse it (which likely would have worked out just fine), but the judge refused that on the spot and chose to keep talking to her to make his point.
These types of situations happen all the time in a classroom. A teacher and a student have a confrontation of some type. An inexperienced teacher (or a tired one) tends to escalate it and make things worse. A good teacher learns how to hold respect while simultaneously diffusing the situation before it becomes a problem. 9 times in ten that works. It's a careful art.
Anyhoo, it just seems like an instance where a judge's frayed nerves collided head-on with a scared kid who didn't know how she's supposed to compose herself in a courtroom. The escalation and the "f-u" comment were consequence of that. I don't fault the judge for finding her in contempt once that happened, but it probably could have been avoided by skipping the "bye-bye" comment at the start of it, or allowing the public defender to step in and help her answer questions. My $.02 anyway.
-------------- Wealth needs more. Happiness needs less. Simplify.
Yippee ! Nice to know cooler heads and a chance to think it over could prevail. Glad she has to get some drug counseling. Hope she takes advantage of her second chance and glad the judge relented a bit.
-------------- If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. Chinese proverb
I watched it the first time and my thought was "wow, what a brat." Then I watched it again, with a bit more attention.
Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
