Associated Press
JOLIET, Ill. – An Illinois judge has freed a man who’d been jailed for three weeks after letting loose a loud yawn during a sentencing hearing.
Thirty-three-year-old Clifton Williams of Richton Park was found in contempt of court and jailed on July 23 after yawning in Will County Judge Daniel Rozak’s court.
Williams was in court for his cousin’s sentencing on a drug charge. And a prosecutor in court at the time described the offending yawn as “loud and boisterous.”
As Williams stood before the bench in shackles, the judge gave him a short lecture Thursday, telling him he wasn’t in custody for simply yawning. Rozak told Williams he was found in contempt for making a sound “that was offensive to the court.”
Where’s the outrage from the people who thump the constitution? It’s okay to yell down elected officials and disrupt the rights of others, but you can’t yawn in court?
Day in, day out, we hear about democracy being disrupted. Local residents can’t ask valid questions without hecklers drowning them out. Yet, this guy serves three weeks in jail for yawning “loudly!” What is this world coming to?
Lette,
Very true.
The lack of outrage may come from the fact that no one has heard about this…
..At least I hadn’t.
Certain or you could say many judges believe themselves to be above the law.
Locally we recently had a couple judges sentenced to prison terms after great FBI undercover work stemming from their involvemnt in accepting bribes for justice…
This judge should be referred to a higher court for judicial misconduct.
And..
The fact that the judge had to state to the defendant he was not jailed for yawning tells me the judge knew he was over reaching.
A Contempt of Court charge to me is sorta like an officer’s discretion thing..
Too damn subjective.
Maybe Auntie,
can expand on how much leeway judge’s have on the contempt charge.
Hey Tak! Criminal contempt of court comes with a sentence, but generally after there is a Rule to Show Cause hearing. Some judges do send people directly to jail for criminal contempt of court IF the action consisted of disrespecting a judge, the courtroom, causing a repeat disruption AFTER a warning.
Because it was criminal contempt, the man should have been provided with legal counsel. The thing is, by the time that legal counsel prepares and files a habeus, the judge can re-think things and release the person.
But there is something else also. Based on what Lette provided, the prosecutor made a deliberate statement. It sounds more to me as though the man may have been an informant who needed to be in jail in order to gather “intelligence.”
I couldn’t agree more with Lette, but that is what is wrong with the hecklers — there’s been no penalty.
Don’t remember the exact year, but it was several years ago when a woman named Elena stood at a public hearing regarding the appointment of a federal judge for NY. Hillary Clinton was at that hearing. Elena stood and asked to be heard and was cuffed and escorted out and thrown in jail. The charge was something like disrupting Congress. It was months before Elena was released.
I’ve heard of people being removed/kicked out of the court room for being disruptive. I think this judge took it a little too far.
As far as the hecklers, maybe they should get a good dose of abuse of power. They’re infringing on the rights of others when they prevent them from being heard. Their behavior is disruptive and disrespectful!
Hey,
Auntie,
I tried posting a message on your Robert Cray post but kept getting an error for some reason.
I’ve been in a court room several times where mere soft conversation was greeted with a warning……the big one being cell phones!
Maybe you’re right and they were just looking for a reason to detain him for something unknown to us, or maybe the judge had a bad day…who knows.
It just seems like there should be a “Defined Standard” for Contempt.
As far as the town halls – I agree folks should be warned once to keep quiet and then escorted out by security.
I remember many times when Bush was speaking at some event and disrupters were simply led out by police…..how many times did that happen over 8 yrs?
However,
I do want the tough questions asked and not the softball cheerleading type.
Just ask them in a respectful manner.
Tak, I’ll check that blog page to make sure I don’t have comments turned off. Thanks for visiting it. Hope you like the song. I saw Cray perform it live.
Yeah Lette,
They should have signs at the entrance explaining these debates are to be conducted civilly and disrupters will be removed promptly.
Those not leaving quietly when asked to do so are subject to arrest.
Seems as though Judge Rozak has a reputation for jailing people for contempt. The Chicago Tribune reviewed ten years of contempt of court charges and found that Judge Rozak sends people to jail, typically spectators whose cell phones go off in the courtroom (wish I had authority to do that), or who scream or shout profanity during sentencing . His rate of sending people to jail for contempt is higher than any other judge in Will County.
The Judge has released people after they apologized to him.
It might be safe to assume that he has the highest rate in the country! Maybe he should preside over the town hall meetings!
Lette, believe it or not, I’ve heard some Republican judges say that they wished the hecklers were in their courtroom. There would be lots of baloney sandwiches for dinner in jail that night.
That Judge’s behavior is extreme. The yawn was involuntary, but the stretch that went along with it was not. The man did this after his cousin was sentenced to 2 years probation for drug charges.
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_157a9436-85bd-11de-b6ac-001cc4c002e0.html
The yawn was involuntary, but the stretch that went along with it was not. The man did this after his cousin was sentenced to 2 years probation for drug charges.
As I understand it, that judge tries more felony cases in his courtroom than other criminal court judges in that district. Will County is now the second largest in population in the State of Illinois. Winnebago County where I work runs third, and I know the madhouse it can be.
The bailiffs can tell you stories where you don’t know to laugh, cry, or both. The latest thing is people coming to court wearing pajamas.
LOL! Maybe the people in pajamas didn’t want to be late! Who has time to worry about showering and getting dressed??
This judge is abusing his power. Do you know if he’s ever been brought up on review?
As best I can tell, prosecutors and defense attorneys who practice before him gave him a high recommendation. But, would they do otherwise since they do practice before him?
Reviews would be handled by the judicial inquiry board, and are mostly based on complaints filed by the public.
Maybe since this hit the news, the judicial inquiry board will pay attention.
The weird thing about elected judges in Illinois is that once they are elected, they only need a “yes” or “no” vote for retention. Not many people who vote pay attention to judge retention. Sadly, there are many litigants who come before judges who don’t know or remember the judge’s name, although the name is clearly on the front of the bench.
Oh, some of the people in pajamas coming to the courthouse aren’t there for hearings. They come in to look at case files and such, but there are some who appear in court dressed that way.
We had one about a month ago who came to court in a bikini. The security guards are old guys, and they were looking so hard that they didn’t think to tell her that she needed to put on some clothes. LOL.
A bailiff escorted her out, and as she walked by the clerk’s office, (which is a wall of glass), she mooned the clerks.
LOL! Anything for attention!
Oh Lette, there are some interesting days at work. LOL.
What is more interesting than the way people dress for court, is the way they argue what the law or procedures should be.
Last week, a man came to my office looking for jury instructions. I told him that jury instructions are in a book in the law library. THEN HE ASKED ME WHAT THEY WERE FOR. (The judge told him to have his jury instructions ready for trial.)
So I said to him that evidently, he had requested a trial by jury. He said yes, that “she told me to do that.” (I didn’t bother to ask who “she” was. People get legal advice from anyone who says what they want to hear.)
Then he said it was a traffic violation. Okay. So the judge wants the jury to have instructions on what has to be proven.
Then the man asked me if he could get a bench trial instead. Sure. Then he asked how. I responded that he could try asking the judge by way of motion. He asked what a motion is.
Now do you see why I’m so patient. LOL!!!!
You should have told him that a motion is a dance move! LOL!
ROFLOL!!
How absurd! It’s bedlam out there…
I haven’t read the other comments so forgive me if someone already said this.
I wonder if the fact he is black has anything t do with it.
I honestly never even thought about that. I think it’s basically an arrogant judge that likes to abuse his power!
Will County is the second largest county by population in the State of Illinois. That particular judge has the greatest amount of felony cases in that district. Personally, I don’t think it’s about race.
Evidently, because it was a sentence hearing, the cousin of the man found in contempt pled not guilty and there was either a trial or a plea bargain just before trial. My guess is that two years of supervision for a drug charge was the result of a last minute plea bargain. THAT PISSES OFF JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS.
The 2007 census of Will County was 673,586 and has a breakdown by race of:
White Non-Hispanic (77.4%)
Black (10.5%)
Hispanic (8.7%)
Other race (3.6%)
Two or more races (1.6%)
I’m wondering why he didn’t just kick the guy out of the court room. I would have filed a complaint. That’s excessive!
The judge is an abuser of power, that’s for sure.
But there is something about the prosecutor speaking up about the yawn and stretch that bothers me. He most likely took it as a mockery of the sentencing and knew he could get that judge to retaliate.
I’ve never been before a judge, and now I hope I never will. To send someone to jail for yawning or making a loud noise, now that is an exercise of real power.
Oh now everyone…you all know the Judge was right in his actions. The man was disrepectful and intentionally made a “class clown” jesture in an effort to impress his cousin and other family members. He got what he deserved.
Hiya everyone…I haven;t had a good debate for a while…had to pipe in…lol
Did you see the job Sean did on his blog…http://www.seanbond.me/Bloggers/otherblogs.htm
Nobody is on here lately including me…
So Happy New Year everyone.. Lette hope 2010 is great for you.. Auntie.. Happy New Year to you too…