Posted on 07/14/2006 8:18:56 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Junior Stowers raised his hands and exclaimed, "Thank you, Jesus!" in court last month when he was acquitted by a jury of abusing his son.
But his joy was short-lived when Circuit Judge Patrick Border held him in contempt of court for the "outburst" and threw him in jail.
Stowers, 47, sat in the courtroom and a cellblock for about six hours until the judge granted him a hearing on the contempt charge and released him.
The judge at a July 7 hearing dropped the contempt charge, a petty misdemeanor that carries up to 30 days in jail.
Stowers couldn't be reached for comment. But his attorney in the contempt case, Deputy Public Defender Susan Arnett, said he wasn't treated fairly.
"I don't think there's anything about saying 'Thank you, Jesus' that rises to the level of contemptuous behavior in this case," she told The Honolulu Advertiser.
Stowers is a devoutly religious man active in his church who spontaneously expressed his thanks to the higher power in which he believed, she said.
Family members and Stowers' pastor at Assembly of God Church, Iakopo Sale, who watched from the gallery were "very upset that those words could land somebody in jail," Arnett said.
Border declined to comment but indicated the court minutes reflected his actions. The minutes showed he found Stowers' "nonverbal gestures and outbursts to be disruptive and improper regardless of content."
Court minutes said Border later dropped the charge because he realized Stowers' trial lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Carmel Kwock, did not have time to tell Stowers the judge had ordered both sides not to show emotion when the verdict was announced.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
ping
They told the blind man to shut up too when Jesus gave him back his eyesight and he couldnt help but praise God.
Screw the Godless judge....let the hallelujahs ring out...eheheheheheheheeh.
PS I bet a "thanks be to Allah" would have been allowed however by the ACLU judge.
The judge gave an order, the defendant did not comply, the judge decided the order had not been relayed properly and dropped the matter.
Simple, isn't it?
>>>Oh, spare us the "victim" crap, this time. The judge gave an order, the defendant did not comply, the judge decided the order had not been relayed properly and dropped the matter. Simple, isn't it?<<<
The ACLU will be contacting you shortly to ask if you will appear in one of their anti-Christian commercials.
Why on earth would a judge order someone not to show emotion when the verdict was read? What does he think people are? Robots? It doesn't sound like what he did necessarily qualified as an outburst. I agree, if the guy had thanked allah, it probably would have been given a pass.
"the judge had ordered both sides not to show emotion when the verdict was announced"
What???????
"So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." (Mathew 10: 32-33).
"Judge" Border elevated Junior Stowers' standing in God's eyes while judging himself into hell.
Pardon me for interfering in your victimhood.
No, not really. The trial was over. Removing him from the courtroom by placing him in jail accomplishes nothing. Were it in the middle of the case and the judge needed to maintain courtroom decorum, it would be one thing, but the trial was over and he was leaving. What was the point of arresting him and preventing his departure other than just a little power trip on the part of the judge?
This part was left out of the excerpt: Stowers asked to approach the bench and apologize, but the judge told him he could not." I'm sorry that is just wrong.
IMO your beef seems to be with the news item in particular as opposed to the actual story.
>>>Pardon me for interfering in your victimhood.<<<
Get off your soapbox. Do you really think the judge would have batted an eyelash if Stowers had said, "Thank you, American Civil Liberties Union"? Not a chance.
The judge gave an order, the defendant did not comply, the judge decided the order had not been relayed properly and dropped the matter.
Simple, isn't it?
Nope. Being told about the order would help.
Court minutes said Border later dropped the charge because he realized Stowers' trial lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Carmel Kwock, did not have time to tell Stowers the judge had ordered both sides not to show emotion when the verdict was announced.
Think that judge might show emotion in a courtroom when the True Judge tells him "Depart from me you cursed one into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels"?
Which is exactly why the judge eventually (6 hours later) dropped the matter, as I said.
You are, on this one.
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