Contempt
I think that I was very close to going to jail myself today.
There is a guy in jail, who has been there since the middle of December, largely because his case was in a municipal court and then got transferred to our court. He has been sitting on a bond that he can't post and that is uncharacteristically high.
He wrote to our office and we received the letter yesterday. Another attorney in the office scrambled to get the guy into the first available courtroom. We notified the prosecutor that we were planning on bringing the guy over, but I omitted to notify the Judge. Mostly because I wasn't all that involved in making the arrangements, but still, 2 minutes of effort late yesterday afternoon would have saved me an ass-chewing today.
In any event, guys were brought over this morning from the jail, and after almost all of the other cases had been heard and well before lunch, the prosecutor mentioned that there was an add-on. The Judge then wanted to know why the guy was added and he wasn't notified. He then turned his ire on me and vented vociferously. He chewed my ass, and let's just say he ate until he had his fill. I mentioned that the guy had been in jail since December and the Judge actually said, "I don't care, no one comes over to my court unless the prosecutor requests them or I say it is okay." Eventually, the Judge took a softer tone, after he discovered that I was not the person who requested the guy. (I wasn't going to mention it, as it is my courtroom and I don't have respect for others who try to shift the blame.)
Obviously, the Judge wants to maintain control of his docket. And, with the caseload we carry, that is understandable. The problem is that the guy is going to sit until Monday when he can be heard in the courtroom that his case is assigned to. I don't think I can properly express the depth of my disappointment.
There is a guy in jail, who has been there since the middle of December, largely because his case was in a municipal court and then got transferred to our court. He has been sitting on a bond that he can't post and that is uncharacteristically high.
He wrote to our office and we received the letter yesterday. Another attorney in the office scrambled to get the guy into the first available courtroom. We notified the prosecutor that we were planning on bringing the guy over, but I omitted to notify the Judge. Mostly because I wasn't all that involved in making the arrangements, but still, 2 minutes of effort late yesterday afternoon would have saved me an ass-chewing today.
In any event, guys were brought over this morning from the jail, and after almost all of the other cases had been heard and well before lunch, the prosecutor mentioned that there was an add-on. The Judge then wanted to know why the guy was added and he wasn't notified. He then turned his ire on me and vented vociferously. He chewed my ass, and let's just say he ate until he had his fill. I mentioned that the guy had been in jail since December and the Judge actually said, "I don't care, no one comes over to my court unless the prosecutor requests them or I say it is okay." Eventually, the Judge took a softer tone, after he discovered that I was not the person who requested the guy. (I wasn't going to mention it, as it is my courtroom and I don't have respect for others who try to shift the blame.)
Obviously, the Judge wants to maintain control of his docket. And, with the caseload we carry, that is understandable. The problem is that the guy is going to sit until Monday when he can be heard in the courtroom that his case is assigned to. I don't think I can properly express the depth of my disappointment.
posted by swd at 11:26 PM
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