... the ruling stands: GUILTY !
Posted on 07/17/2008 12:56:53 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Woman gives judge earful, lands in jail Obscene outburst nets Sarah Muller contempt charge in jury selection
By Suevon Lee Star-Banner
Published: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 5:35 a.m. OCALA — A Summerfield woman said she blurted without thinking a couple choice words for a county judge during jury selection at the Marion County Courthouse Monday morning—ones which had landed her in jail by the end of the day.
ALAN YOUNGBLOOD/STAR-BANNER Sarah E. Muller comments on her case during an interview at the Marion County Jail.
click to enlarge Judge R. James McCune, Jr. listens to attorneys in 2006 in Summerfield. Jannet Walsh/Star-Banner/File
“Sometimes I get upset and I say things,” Sarah E. Muller said during an interview with the Star-Banner at the Marion County Jail Booking Center late Monday afternoon. “I didn’t know I would go to jail for freedom of speech.”
Faced with the prospect of serving as a juror and upset that County Judge R. James McCune Jr. denied her request for dismissal, the 23-year-old insulted the presiding judge by calling him a two-syllable curse word—a crude term referring to the anus — within earshot of several of the other 178 potential jurors seated in the Jury Assembly Room.
When the judge asked Muller to clarify her remark, Muller repeated it. He charged her on the spot with direct criminal contempt of the court — a second-degree misdemeanor— and Muller was promptly handcuffed by a court bailiff and taken into custody.
At a hearing later in the afternoon, McCune sentenced Muller to three days in jail and ordered her to pay court costs and fines.
“I was very upset that my excuse that I needed to go to the doctor was not as good an excuse as a lie,” she said later, referring to the judge’s decision to dismiss a woman standing ahead of her in line. If that woman, Muller argued, could escape jury duty by claiming she did not speak English well, how come she couldn’t be removed for health reasons?
She had come to court alone that morning, she said, severely irritated that she had to spend money on gas getting there, rather than the clinic to apply for Social Security disability.
Muller, who is unemployed, said she was born with a leaky valve in her heart and has had four previous heart surgeries to treat it.
“I can’t waste my money on gas to come [to court] and be able to go to the doctor at the same time. Gas ain’t cheap,” she said.
Muller is even more broke than when she arrived at court: She owes the court $50 and the Public Defender’s Office $183 for the brief counsel Assistant Public Defender Hisham Shanawany provided at the hearing.
Muller was the first to hop in line to ask that she be excused by the judge following qualifications Monday morning.
She cited poor health and the need to visit a doctor.
Finding no urgency in her situation, McCune denied her request for dismissal and ordered her to take a seat with the rest of the jury pool.
That did not deter Muller, who re-entered the line and this time, threw in the claim that she was “a racist,” in efforts to cast herself as someone unable to be a fair and impartial juror.
“I just didn’t want to do jury duty. That’s the best excuse there was,” Muller said later.
McCune denied her dismissal once again, at which point Muller insulted him.
During the hearing, McCune called two witnesses to testify about the incident: Deputy Clerk of Court Tonja Leek-Snyder, who was seated beside McCune and witnessed the entire exchange, and bailiff Larry McLemore, who had arrested Muller.
“How in the world did you think that running your mouth in such a foul, profane way would be appropriate in court, of all places?” McCune asked Muller. “Did it even dawn on you that you were already here and you might as well make the most of it?”
Muller apologized to the judge as tears streamed down her face.
“I’m very sorry for calling you that. I did not know it was illegal, and I did not mean to cause disrespect,” she said.
Muller added that cursing was “a very bad habit” of hers and that she was feeling upset, sick, and very broke.
“I’m very poor, and I barely have any money at all,” she protested. “I do not appear to be sick, but I am internally sick.”
On her charge, Muller could have faced up to six months in prison and a $500 court fine.
Muller was sobbing as she was led away to be fingerprinted following the judge’s sentence. When she turned back to face the judge, who remained seated at the bench, his hand cupped in his chin, she asked: “Is there any bond for that?”
“No,” McCune replied.
“I really wasn’t trying to make him look like a fool,” Muller said later. “If anybody looked like a fool, it was me for saying it. But it don’t matter now, because he already put my ass in here,” she said.
As for advice to others trying to avoid jury duty who don’t want to end up in jail, she advised: “Don’t say any cuss words at all. Maybe even ‘damn’ will get you kicked out.”
Suevon Lee can be reached at suevon.lee@starbanner.com or 352-867-4065.
Another fine upstanding citizen that doesn’t notice the word ‘duty’ when reading the jury summons.
Could have resulted in a mistrial though.
We were so PO'd we wouldn't have cared because we all wanted to string the little punk up on the nearest telephone pole, anyway. Not having air conditioning in the jury room did not improve our moods.
Show up "Suitably attired".
In a barrister's wig.
Do your jury duty!
I squawked to a lawyer friend that I wanted some suggestions as to how to avoid jury duty.
He took a chainsaw to my tail, basically.
"People like you, who can read, but avoid jury duty, are the reason we got the OJ Verdict!!! Do you think we like dumpster-diving for stupid jurors?".
Woo.
Some advice from someone who has been there a few times - do NOT screw around with this. First, there isn't anything you can come up with that the judge hasn't seen before or at least heard of. Second, not showing up results in a little thingy called a "bench warrant." Third, somebody's freedom is at stake. It isn't about you.
That said, I did get rejected one time after the defense counsel asked what bumper stickers the pool had and I answered "NRA Life Member." There are cases for which that actually does work.
I was called for jury duty in Loudoun County, VA and the two cases were pleaded out before we were even divided into groups. The judge called us all into the courtroom and thanked us for coming. We were out in less than an hour and the check for or service was in the mail.
Actually, yes. They are easily manipulated by lawyer-sharks.
If they were dumb enough to select her for jury duty, she could get back at the judge by being a lone holdout and force a mistrial (11 - 1 vote anyone).
You think people have a right to show contempt of court and disrupt court procedures? The law says otherwise. If you think you have a “right” to tell the judge he is a body orifice in his courtroom you also have the “right” to sit in jail and think about how wrong you are.
“This idiot gets about $85 a day for jury duty. Her gas was paid for.”
Where does jury duty pay that well? Where I am it’s $15/day.
When I was in the military stationed in Montana my coworker was being beat upon by her husband. For her birthday, we got her a baseball bat at let the POS husband know that if he ever hit her again, he would be on the receiving end.
The cases I would like would be drunk drivers and civil cases especially the frivolous ones.
Did you also notice the one side of her face - I assume the left side - seems swollen and reddened below the eye?
23 year old druggie trying to get on SSI. All she had to do was tell the judge she was a druggie and she would have been dismissed
Public dole?
How much did each of those “4” heart operations cost the taxpayers?
And after all you and I both know this woman has contributed so very much to society that all that money is well spent?
Yeah, I saw that, but I wondered if she got it from smarting off to another inmate. Considering she’s probably a drug addicted lowlife with no job, it’s actually relatively civic minded of her to show up at all.
I believe it has been raised to $10/day and mileage (one way), but they don’t pay the first day.
Who does she think she is, Ignatius J. Reilly?
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