[beezdotcom]

tell me how the ringing cellphone fits into the above dictionary definition of 'contempt' without any verbose diversion.

Simple. It COULD be this.

You treat the judge with scorn if you egregiously ignore his instructions, despite being warned.

You treat everyone else in the courtroom as worthless if you deliverately disrupt the proceedings by continuing to fiddle with your phone, thereby leaving it on to ring.

But I really don't know. I wasn't there. She could be as pure as the driven snow. Then again, she was more likely IM'ing her homies instead of shutting the damn phone off like she was told.

[orangelobster]

what about passing wind in the courtroom. is that good for 21 days too?

[HiTech RedNeck]

You treat everyone else in the courtroom as worthless if you deliverately disrupt the proceedings by continuing to fiddle with your phone, thereby leaving it on to ring.

Why didn't the judge call the girl on the phone-fiddling then? "Stop fiddling with that phone, turn it off, and give it to me." That would have been a more reasonable move if the goal was to keep order, rather than to just be punitive.