Posted on 11/20/2004 10:02:03 AM PST by 4.1O dana super trac pak
A ringing cell phone landed a 17-year-old Patchogue girl facing drug charges in a jail cell this week after an angry district court judge sentenced her to 21 days for contempt.
Mariela Acevedo of 21 Hammond St. incurred the wrath of District Court Judge Salvatore Alamia on Tuesday. As she awaited her hearing, an electronic device went off in Alamia's Central Islip courtroom and he warned everyone to shut off all cell phones and pagers or face contempt charges.
"If you don't know how to shut it off, go outside and introduce it to the heel of your shoe, he said according to a transcript.
When Acevedo's phone subsequently sounded, Alamia called the teenager forward and asked, "Did you think I was playing with you?"
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Another tyrant is a robe who thinks he is somehow more than just another government employee. He's no different that the typical clerk at the DMV but he's got the people believing he's somehow better than that.
"Any normal judge would have made a joke out of it, and made the young person feel like a fool instead of throwing them in a cage with convicted criminals"
Read the article. The judge warned the entire courtroom at the first instance of a device going off. When he said either turn them off or take them outside and introduce them to the heel of your shoe, most sane people would have gotten the joke
"She clearly didn't refuse"
She obviously did refuse or the phone would have been silent.
"The exact same thing has happend to me and millions of others. Sometimes the phone doesn't go off, and actually comes back on, or the tiny little button is not fully depressed"
Maybe you should learn to properly operate your toys before taking them into a courtroom
"That still doesn't excuse him giving her three weeks"
He should have made her serve the 3 weeks before hearing her drug case, then give her the 45 days for drugs
"21 days in jail for a cell phone ringing"
21 days to run concurrently with her 45 day drug sentence. She got nothing actually.
It's very interesting how when a judge such as Mr. Greer in the Terry Shiavo case makes a decision that people do not agree with, everyone is throwing flames and talking about our courts being out of control. But if a judge makes a ruling they agree with, all of the sudden they say that people have lost all respect for the law in thsi country, and that the judges are going beyond their bounds.
"I've seen my share of arrogent judges too. They suffer from a God Complex. Comes from having so much control over the lives of others"
Then again, maybe it comes from having to deal on a daily basis with excuses, and rationalizations from the worst scum our society produces. That's just the lawyers, don't get me started about criminals
"as far as the pot goes... 45 days in the hole for 7th degree possession is very harsh to say the least"
This could be(my best Paul Harvey voice)the rest of the story. No one gets 45 days for a first time pot conviction of a minor amount. Could it be Ms. Acevedo was already known in this court from previous appearances?
Perhaps you've noticed in life . . . different people discrimminate amongst factors, things based on different criteria, different constructs.
Some are more practical, useful, reality based than others.
If a cell phone goes off in the Court I practice in, someone is out $50.00 or they don't get their phone back.
You fix what? HTRN had it right and you added nothing that would change that. Had the judge confiscated the phone when it was being fiddled with by an obviously jittery and distracted juvenile, there would have been no occasion for the contempt.
confiscated => temporarily confiscated, until the hearing was over
And some are more punitive based than others.
Thank you very much, Zone. Beezdotcom and your ilk take careful note: What goes around comes around honey.
True.
But the notion that anything goes; there is no right or wrong; never any real occasion for punishment etc.
is contrary to my experience of reality
and unsupportive of a truly civilized society.
All roads do not lead to Rome. Some go straighter to hell than others.
Well, it is clear that you would sometimes opt for solutions closer to Draco than to Solomon.
Typical Lawn Guyland MORON judge.
Not necessarily, at all.
But I probably have a bias toward teens being awakened earlier than later when they've had the misfortune to have had terrible or virtually non-existent parenting.
We have enough trained sociopaths in prison, thank you.
And a lot more running around loose still.
I'd prefer that we do everything we can to decrease their numbers and their hazards.
Saying by actions and words
'F U' to God and every other authority is not a good survival strategy for individuals and not for society when those individuals persist in the delusion that such behavior is as A-OK as any other behavior.
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