Posted on 04/20/2005 8:54:40 AM PDT by Bigfitz
LOS ANGELES -- A juror was cited for contempt and fined $1,000 by a judge for yawning loudly while awaiting questioning in an attempted murder trial. The fine later was reduced to $100.
The yawn came after the man, identified as Juror No. 2386 in an April 1 court transcript, had been sitting in a courtroom for two days as part of jury selection.
"You yawned rather audibly there. As a matter of fact, it was to the point that it was contemptuous," Superior Court Judge Craig Veals said.
"I'm sorry, but I'm really bored," the juror said.
"I'm sorry?" the judge responded.
When the juror repeated his statement, he was admonished by the judge for having a "lousy" attitude.
"Your boredom just cost you $1,000 I'm finding you in contempt," Veals said. "Are you quite so bored now?"
The judge later called the yawn disruptive.
"I can't run a court when I have someone behaving the way you did," Veals said.
The juror paid the fine after it was reduced to $100. Ultimately, he was questioned but not selected for the trial.
Yeah, but the juror is still a punk.
His Royal Highness, Superior Court Judge Craig Veals has spoken.
Based on the info here I didn't even find the juror to be a punk. He apologized, then explained why he yawned. The judge didn't like it, and instead of lecturing the guy, he finds him in contempt? That's the definition of "punk" and "judicial arrogance" to me.
lol
What did he expect? The Dancing Itos.
How much to call the judge an a-hole?
I just did a day of jury duty in the Cook County system. It was worth $17.20 for the day and it was boring. The legal system is kind of screwy that way.
I bet this judge is of the type who let pedophiles walk.
Give me a break.
It's not that he yawned, it's the way he yawned. When I yawn in public, I try to be as inconspicuous about it as possible, this guy obviously wanted to send a message that he didn't want to be there.
Not saying he should have necessarily been fined. This may very well have been a case of two a-holes, both judge and juror.
He deserves to be fined for that stupid reply
I ok with this. A court is somewhat a church and we should strive not to disrupt the proceedings. We don't know the facts, but if the guy made an attention getting 10th grade English class "Who-the-f*** cares about Chaucer?" yawn, I see the judge's point.
Everybody deserves to be fined, even the people reading this article.
While yawning is an involuntary reflex action, anyone can yawn silently and mask the yawn with a hand. Sounds to me like this person did not do that. He yawned audibly and apparently loudly enough to indicate his boredom, which he confirmed on being questioned by the judge.
The fine seems a bit large to me, but I wasn't there.
I note that a lot of Freepers in these threads whine about doing jury duty. Some even brag about being willing and able to skip it.
That's just wrong, and is one of the reasons that we have such lousy juries seated in many trials. Whenever I have been called to jury duty, I've always shown up. I've been on a couple of juries.
Here's the deal. If you're not willing to do jury duty, then you deserve a lousy jury if you ever face one. Anyone can find themselves being judged by a jury in a criminal or civil action.
If you expect to have a decent jury in your case, then you'd better be willing to serve on a jury in other cases. It's just common sense.
No doubt
fine with me
I am from Ca, and all I can say is only in L.A * shaking my head*
I'm especially pissed at the people who AREN'T reading this article. They'll get the biggest fines when I am elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
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