Posted on 01/31/2006 2:23:59 AM PST by freepatriot32
TROY, Mich. — A judge who sentenced three teenagers to probation for being drunk at their high school prom had them jailed after he saw them drinking and ridiculing him on a Web site one of them created.
"I told them, 'If you think this gives me any pleasure, you're wrong,'" Oakland County District Judge Michael Martone said after sentencing the last of the girls, Amanda Senopole, to 10 days in jail last week.
"You know, it's just a crying shame," Martone said. "I work my butt off trying to help kids like this, trying to figure out what works. And then they do things like this."
Senopole and eight other Troy Athens High School students were caught drinking at their prom last May. They were arraigned before Martone on misdemeanor charges of being a minor in possession of alcohol.
Martone, who had appeared at Athens High days before the prom to warn graduating seniors against drinking, sentenced the students to probation, fines, court costs, community service and alcohol-education classes. As a condition of their probation, he ordered them not to drink and to avoid places where alcohol is served or consumed.
Several months later, Martone was looking on the Internet for a news release on one of the many alcohol-prevention programs he has promoted during his 13 years on the bench. He entered his own name into a search engine and came to a site belonging to Mary Meerschaert, one of the Athens students he had sentenced.
His computer screen showed Meerschaert, Senopole and some of the other students who had appeared before him in court — making obscene gestures, chugging shots of Jagermeister liqueur, posing with beer cans stacked nearly to the ceiling and vomiting into toilets.
The Web site's headline included an abbreviated obscenity directed toward the judge.
Meerschaert, by now enrolled at Michigan State University, had used a digital camera to create an Internet photo gallery with students appearing passed out and couples playing a drinking game among its more than 400 images. Many of the picture captions were profane and directed at Martone.
The gallery also showed Senopole, Meerschaert's roommate, and another co-defendant in the prom incident, Rachel Stesney — enrolled at the University of Detroit Mercy — drinking at parties at Michigan State.
"They made a mockery of the legal system," Martone told the Detroit Free Press for a story published on Jan. 27. "I had to do something."
The judge showed the Web site to police and probation officers. It became legal evidence for charging the three women with contempt of court "for disobeying my direct order not to consume alcohol," Martone said.
Meerschaert and Stesney appeared before Martone on Dec. 23. Meerschaert admitted that her Web site did use profanity aimed at Martone, and that she had a drinking problem.
He sentenced her to 30 days in the Oakland County Jail, then sentenced Stesney to 15 days. They shared a cell during Christmas and New Year's Day.
Senopole appeared before Martone last week, telling him: "I have a new roommate now. She doesn't drink." She also said she earned a 3.6 grade-point average in the fall at Michigan State, and pledged she would introduce an alcohol-education program in her dormitory.
Martone doubled Senopole's hours of community service, to 100, but gave her less jail time than Meerschaert and Stesney — 10 days — and let her serve them one at a time, on weekends, "so it doesn't interrupt your studies."
Of the nine students who drank before the prom, two others also have served jail time for later alcohol infractions.
Cheryl Stesney would not let her daughter comment. Martone, she said, "let his anger get out of control. He was just so hurt and embarrassed by that Web site."
Meerschaert's mother, Polly, agreed. "I do feel this is all about vengeance. I won't say my daughter didn't make a mistake. But the minute it became personal, the judge should've removed himself," she said.
"Judge Martone's a fair man," Senopole's father, Tom, said outside the courtroom last week. "She was just in the wrong crowd, wrong time, wrong place."
Oh yea, the 60's youth were such upstanding model citizens. Hippies, drugs, antiwar protests were all a dream, huh?.
Every generation bemoans the state of the youth as they age; out of jealousy I guess.
You have a novel definition of the word "force."
Stupid children. This judge may have just saved them from some real heartache in the future. The parents' comments prove where the problem lies.
I take it you have never done shoots Jager. Just picture the photo a bottle of Jager shoot glasses with dark liquid in them.
I take it you have never done shoots Jager. Just picture the photo a bottle of Jager shoot glasses with dark liquid in them.In a photo, the only thing you can say about "glasses with dark liquid in them" is: "It looks like a picture of a glass with some kind of dark liquid in it."
It doesn't matter what else is in the picture. That's all you can say about pictures of drinking glasses filled with liquids.
Now I've already conceded that the girl's an idiot and gets what she deserves. There's no flippin' way I'm going to concede the pictures show anything other than contempt.
no this was contempt.
They were disobeying a direct order of the judge. They were showing contumacious conduct with regards to the court and the orders of the court.
It was not personal. It is a standard procedure. You violate probation, you get the full sentence you were eligible to have.
ANY judge would be forced to do the same.
Classic old fogey syndrome.
This type of over the top reaction will just make them have nothing but distrust and contempt for the legal system.
A girl is doing 30 days in jail for drinking at her prom. That is over the top.
High school seniors and college students that drink are not exhibiting some sort of "cry for help" - it's part of growing up.
Serving 30 days in jail for drinking at the prom goes far beyond "accepting responsibility".
This is a judge that got his feelings hurt and is lashing out. He is the very definition of an activist judge as he is an activist in anti-drinking programs.
He is a very simple and naive man if he thinks that his little programs will change one person. High school seniors and college students drink - it is illegal but it is what they do. It's not a cry for help or a sign of having a drinking problem - it's just the way the world is.
Look at some of the most successful and prominent people in this country - odds are that they drank in high school and college as well. The Bush twins did it and they have done very well in school and are on their way to being outstanding and productive citizens.
What was that old saw about two wrongs not making a right? The kids are wrong, and the judge is wrong.
are you kidding? Except for the one, those parents' reactions make it crystal clear why the kids are screwing up. My parents would have been furious with the judge if he gave me LESS than a month in jail.
Try again, kid.
Martone, who had appeared at Athens High days before the prom to warn graduating seniors against drinking, sentenced the students to probation, fines, court costs, community service and alcohol-education classes. As a condition of their probation, he ordered them not to drink and to avoid places where alcohol is served or consumed.
Not completing the original sentence as ordered has consequences. Another excellent lesson for the youths. Some people learn by others' mistakes. These kids, and probably you, are destined to learn from their own screw ups.
Try addressing me without the jerk attitude. This is a civil discussion and there is no need to get all bent out of shape.
I am very disappointed JeffAtlanta. That is a response I would expect on the DU. A half true, wrapped in a partial truth. What about violating a judges order and a 2nd provable offense of underage drinking. You know damn well they were NOT give 30 days for drinking at the prom they were let go.
This society is absolutely doomed if we cannot accept responsibility for our actions and speak the WHOLE truth.
Try getting the facts right.
You are in error. She was not tried or charged for any offense beyond drinking at the prom. Since she was not charged or tried on those offenses, there is no way that she can serve time for them.
The website was used as evidence that she violated her probation for the charge of underage drinking at her prom - nothing more. When one violates their probation, the judge can then revisit the sentencing on the ORGINAL CHARGE. That is what happened here and the judge gave her 30 days in jail.
BTW, I see where you are coming from since they were charged with contempt of court rather than just revisiting the sentence of the original charge.
I see this as an abuse of power by the judge. If the person can't fulfill the terms of the probation then the sentence should simply be revisited.
How can he prove the bottles in the pictures weren't filled with Coke? I have a video of Uma Thurman killing a bunch of people with a sword. Better prosecute her for murder.
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