Jailtime For Letting A Phone Ring In Court
from the think-this-judge-is-unhappy-with-ringing-phones? dept
A 17-year-old girl who was in court for other charges is now going to be spending an extra 21 days in jail for contempt of court. What was so contemptible? Letting her mobile phone ring in the courtroom -- specifically after a judge told everyone to silence their phones. It appears the judge was particularly adamant about making sure people understood they should turn their phones off, as his message to them included: "If you don't know how to shut it off, go outside and introduce it to the heel of your shoe." So, it's really not a huge surprise that he'd look to set an example of anyone who kept their phone's ringer on. However, no matter how annoying the ringing may be, does it really deserve three weeks in jail?
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Sentencing
The thing I want to know is how the judge knew she had been "playing with it all morning". Was he watching the 17-year-old all morning?
As for whether the sentence was justified, probably not. How long would you have sentenced her for contempt of court?
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The Stupid Cell Phones
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Borderline...
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No Subject Given
In corporate meetings I start by saying, with a big smile, "Now would be a good time to put phones and whatnot into a silent mode; if they ring, you have to stand on the table and dance a little jig...". I've never actually enforced this - the rest of the group generally gives the first ringer enough joking demands for the dance that there isn't a second ringer.
So, yeah, were I a judge, I'd do this again and again until the word spread.
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No Subject Given
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Yes
Nice thing about actually using punishment is that people tend to understand it. The 'threat' of punishment is lost of most people.
Would have been more apropro to give her a choice: 3 weeks in Jail or 1 year with no cell phone. Abuse the privleage, lose it.
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Judge was out of line
I prescribe a collective enema for everyone out there who get upset over a phone ringing. Relax people - it's just a phone. It's not like you never heard one before.
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Re: Judge was out of line
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Re: Judge was out of line
There are ringtones so obnoxious that they defy all reason -- so this statement deserves some re-working.
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Re: Judge was out of line
She was warned.
Blatently ignored the request.
Let her ass sit in the slammer without her precious cell phone ... @ least thats 3 weeks she won't be abusing it.
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Re: Judge was out of line
Put her cellphone on the other side of the bars of her jail cell,
just out of reach,
ringing, ringing, ringing.......
Truly Catbertian. Bwahhahahaha.
.
I didn't desert Windows,
Windows deserted me: BSOD.
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Re: Judge was out of line
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No Subject Given
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phones in court
I doubt that the 17 year old was in a courtroom for anything good. And the judge was probably right to try to pound in some concept that he was making the rules, and not her.
It could save her some future pain if that soaked in during the 21 days of whatever actually was served (community service, or real rack time)
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