Lawyer Jailed For Turning Off His Phone

from the not-quite-what-you'd-expect dept

There are so many stories about how people keep trying to get others to leave their mobile phones alone -- whether while driving or in restaurants or at a performance. However, this story goes in the other direction. Many courthouses actually ban the use of mobile phones, but apparently that's not the case at the courthouse in this story. A judge who was trying to reach a lawyer during his lunch break about a case, later ordered the lawyer to leave his mobile phone on. The lawyer refused and was sent to jail. The article says the lawyer gave no reason for refusing, but it's hard to understand what law would require you to leave your phone on for a judge to call you whenever he wants.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Don, 21 Jun 2004 @ 1:19am

    Bad Judge

    I have an expectation that judges should be good people who will always do the right thing. This judge does not meet that expectation, he or she should be reprimanded to prevent such a reoccurance. This was poor judgement by a judge- something that should not happen.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2004 @ 7:40am

    No Subject Given

    Mike, Why oh why do you link to stories that require my first born child for a glimpse at the story ?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Beck, 21 Jun 2004 @ 8:22am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Use:
    ID: nopass
    Password: nopass
    This works for many news sites.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Mike (profile), 21 Jun 2004 @ 8:32am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Weird. It didn't ask me for reg info at all, and I certainly don't have reg info cookied for this site. However, now, when I go, I get the same request to login. That's bizarre. Anyway, I've changed the link so hopefully the new link won't suddenly switch from open to reg required also.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2004 @ 8:46am

    Judges rule.

    ...what law would require you to leave your phone on for a judge to call you whenever he wants.
    Judges don't really need specific laws to accomplish their means. Or, if they want cover, they can always rule that some law means whatever they want it to mean. Like the saying goes, "Laws state, but judges rule." Just ask the lawyer in jail.
    Laws? We don't need no stinkin' laws!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2004 @ 9:11am

    Re: Judges rule.

    Thanks Beck & Mike !

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    -O., 21 Jun 2004 @ 2:43pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    try out bug me not..
    http://bugmenot.com/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Greg, 21 Jun 2004 @ 3:28pm

    No Subject Given

    Not strange. A lot of online papers will let you look at one page without registering but request a login and password when you try and view a second page (or the same page a second time) on the site.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.