Judge Wastes No Time: Sentences Late Defendent Over His Mobile Phone

from the go-directly-to-jail,-do-not-pass-go... dept

A man who had pleaded guilty in a financial scam case apparently was late to court on the day of sentencing, claiming he was stuck in traffic. The judge thought about it for a bit, and decided there was no reason to waste court time waiting for the guy to get there. So, she called him back, made sure he wasn't driving at the time, and sentenced him over his mobile phone. Of course, if you're going to do that, why have the guy leave home at all? In fact, why not just email him the sentence? It seems much more efficient.
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  1. identicon
    John Boddie, 3 Feb 2005 @ 11:36am

    Phone Sentencing

    This makes me wonder how many judicial procdures could be managed remotely. Cetainly, in a criminal case, there are a number of steps prior to a jury trial that could be handled in a collaboratie environment instead of a courtroom.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2005 @ 12:39pm

    and with some data mining...

    with some data mining, we wouldn't even need the judges! we'd just plug in the historical determinations and sentences handed out by judges and it all becomes math from there! BRILLIANT.

    Oh wait... nevermind.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    nonuser, 3 Feb 2005 @ 3:48pm

    the worst part of it

    At the end of the call, the scammer said, "Yes I understand, Your Honor... by the way, who do you think will win the big football game?"

    And the judge replied, "Are you talking about the World Cup?"

    link to this | view in thread ]


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