BREAKING: "Finger-Girl" freed!!!
In a quiet hearing on Friday afternoon, the young girl who gave Judge Rodriguez-Chomat the finger the other day apologized, and the Judge in turn set aside the contempt and vacated the thirty day sentence and reduced the bond.
The matter has been settled as it should have been.
When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble. Congressman John Lewis
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27 comments:
Back in the day when I was a young pd , I used to get held in contempt fairly often. The standard routine was : I woul do or say something judge Morphonious, judge Knight, or judge Snyder, would find contemptuous , they would take me in and put in a cell on the bridge, David weed, Rodney, Brian etc . Would come down and talk to judge, I was brought to court one hour later, apologize and contempt was vacated. No biggie just a wY judges used to make a point. Now everyone freaks out! Boy have we gotten soft! Jason Grey
Congrats to the Judge for doing the right thing. The best way to exercise power is to not exercise it at all. Hopefully Judge Rodriguez-Chomat learned this.
Can I say this is the best blog ever!
I really don’t think this went down in a fair way. Despite the fact that this girl has zero respect and acted stupidly, we need to take into account that the consequences far outweighed her crime. This was possession of a controlled substance, not theft or battery. Jail is for people who are dangerous to society, not bratty uneducated people who can’t keep their mouth shut.
That being said since when does a judge have the right to raise the fine like that? Since always. There is something called ‘Contempt of Court’. It’s specifically in place to assure civility within the courtroom. Without it, courtroom hearings would turn into nothing but screaming matches, swearing, etc. Afterall, we are dealing with people that(supposedly) violated the law at least once already.
Bottom line, if you ever find yourself in a courtroom for something you know you did, a little humility and allowing yourself to be humbled is a good thing. Respect the judge and act like a decent human being and you won’t get punished with harsher penalties.
Ref calling in the shumie all next week. Having sex with my Shiksa Goddess. Shumie Time. Rar! Rar!
This is best blog ever!
Zeke Lefkovitch
Here is a transcript of the hearing:
Soto: Yo Yo You Roddy-Cho, what up dog?
Interpreter: Good afternoon Judge Rordriguez-Chomat.
Judge: Good afternoon Ms. Soto
Soto: Huh?
Interpreter: WHat up bi-atch.
Soto: Oh, Ok.
Judge; So where are we on this?
Interpreter: WHat up, what you be chillin?
Soto: Yo, I be chllin in your crib homey, and I be illin.
Interpreter: I have been in jail your honor, and I don't like it very much.
Soto: You feel me dawg, I ain't down wit no dissin you. Much love.
Interpreter: I want the court to know I am sorry for what I did. I apologize from the bottom of my heart.
Judge: Thank you. I am setting aside your 30 day sentence and releasing you. Good luck to you.
Soto: Huh?
Interpreter: Peace out girl.
Soto. Oh. Ok.
Was she touching her hair because she was trying to seduce the judge? She seemed unaware of what's really going on. This girl didn't understand that, and were she a substance abuser, she would certainly NOT have been acting the way she was if experiencing withdrawal or an uncomfortable come-down from the clouds, so to say.
Does anyone else think that UAM looks a whole lot like Christopher Dorner?
I would bet that a great deal of you have allowed your own children the freedoms that this lady apparently grew up with. This generation of no consequences have given a rise to out of control youths. This is the very reason this country is going to hell in a hand basket. Most parents don`t raise their children because they fear the what if`s. The misconceptions that you cannot discipline your children have allowed your own children to hold you at bay. This lady probably talks to her parents and flips them off in this manner. The look on her face is priceless has he doubles her fine for trying to be a smart @$S. In classic it`s all about me form she thumbs her nose at authority.
People who feel railroaded or unjustly punished will get angry...judges should just develop a thick skin and get over it.
I knew a friend who went to traffic court to fight a ticket. The judge wouldn't even hear his side of the story. When she asked for his drivers license, he tossed it at her. She threw him in jail for Contempt of Court. She saw his contempt of her but failed to see her contempt of him....go figure
I'm assuming she was high during her previous Court appearance when she flipped the tyrant, I mean judge, off. If so, what the fuck were the Court officials and the fucking judge doing hearing the case of someone off her face on drugs? They are the guilty ones. Wait until a defendant is not under the influence of drugs before expecting to get any sense and reasonable conduct out of him/her. Isn't that just obvious?
8:30, the judge asked her if she was on drugs and she said no. What else was he supposed to do?
The worst part of this sordid mess is that the Judge didn't take off his panties and let that guttersnipe out of jail when she should have served every day of 30. And best news for her? She's out in time to hit the clubs this weekend. Parteeeee!
I would love to take a class on the psychology of anonymous commenting. Not just on this blog but on all of them, people go fucking insane with their comments hiding behind the veil of anonymity. In reality, it would only take a mildly talented hacker a few minutes to figure out who you al are.
Ref, can the shumie be called inadvanced?
This is a perfect example of what happens on a slow news day and when a story takes on a life of it's own.
We as judges who handle the bond hearings on a regular and /or semi regular basis know that this kind of surly or disrespectful action from the prisoners happens a hundred times a day. Generally we brush it offf with a sarcastic "Have a nice day" (under our breath we add the word ASSHOLE.) and then move on to the next person since there are so many detainees and precious little time.
Sometimes there may be more sarcastic and caustic lecturing by us (it's good to be the King) and then we move to the next person.
Do we have the authority to do what Judge Chomat did? YES.
Do we excercise it? Never. You need a thick skin.
This is not to condone her actions, she was clearly what many young miamians have become: disrespectful, self absorbed asshole.
A lecture and a a good verbal beat down might have done the trick to satisfy the Judge, not that it would have penetrate her drug addled skull. Clearly she was still on whatever drug high that brought her to jail. She was cluless and classless.
The method of imposing the contempt citation was so legally flawed that a first year legal intern could have overturned it, but it made the point and made the Judge happy for the moment.
No Court should have to put up with bad behavior, but we all lose our sense of reason in the job occasionally and need to pick our battles a little more carefully.
I generally applauded the judge for not letting here get away with this behavior, but if you are going to do it, do it right.
Please don't illegally up her bail because she pissed you off.
If you've got a legitimate direct contempt (Which you did have here), at least jump through all the hoops necessary to make it stick. It just takes 2 minutes more of your time to recite the litany neccessary to uphold it on appeal.
Ultimately it all worked out. but the moral of the story is you never know what what story involving your or yours will take on a life of it's own in the goldfishbowl we call The Richard Gerstein Justice Building.
Remember ther are a lot of slow news days out there
" I'm Just Saying"
To 8:30:
I love your idea. Let's establish a standing rule that anyone arrested for possession of a controlled substance have their first appearance hearing postponed for at least 48 hours until we're sure they're no longer under the influence and thus no longer in danger of saying or acting contemptuously.
And BTW, doesn't alprazolam mellow you out? It doesn't make you more aggressive or angrier, right?
10:54 PM.
The simple answer is NO. The commentaries to the Rules Of Shumie discuss the fact that calling
the Shumie is a state of mind more than a particular time. It has to be that moment you push away from the desk, grab your cell phone and keys and briefcase and say "I'm outta here."
The commentaries also discuss the difference between PLANNING the shumie and CALLING it. You can plan an early Shumie, but you can't call it early. It's considered a common beginners mistake to call the Shumie early and if you review the commentaries you would see the problem with calling it early is you haven't yet reached the state of mind to leave. Its when you can't take work any more that the Shumie becomes the Shumie. And not a moment before.
10:20 p.m., anonymous comments just show the true selves of the posters.
Rump- spent the weekend at the Mandarin in NYC for the storm. Beautiful suite, superior service (suit pressed and brushed and shoes shined and fresh flowers every day and room service tailored to my needs- i.e., organic honey with my organic coffee for example). Gives your Four Seasons a run for the money.
I like the Mandarin a lot. Mo Bar is good and the views alone make Asiate fantastic restaurant especially to impress clients or a date. But I'm still a Four Seasons guy. First, in Manhattan who can't remember 57 E 57th? Easiest address/ The Garden is a fine restaurant although I'll admit Asiate is better although more power people are at the Garden. But I just love TY. I get a small table set up where I can watch the beautiful fireplace, but not too close because it gets hot and the food is fine and Maurice knows how I like a martini and has a great selection of small distillery Bourbons, I just had one a few months ago from a place in Montana and loved it so much he gave- note- gave- me a bottle. That kind of service deserves loyalty.
To each his own. Enjoy.
Rumpy - have you checked out the new My Bloody Valentine CD? Sweet sweet music.
I like how Rump roles. Limos and Netjet and the 4 Seasons. All on the client's tab.
New tv series idea: Breaking Shumie. Story of a frustrated trial lawyer who goes into the cigar business and the madcap hijinks with the lowlifes and hustlers he encounters.
Report on new judges from the pits.
Eric Hendon - same as always. such a nice man. overwhelmed.
Margie Verde - may be the nicest judge to ever sit in mjb. gives the defense a fair shake. the anti-glick/brennan.
Miguel De La O - polite & respectful to all. seems to get it. rejected a plea last week because the state overreached.
Tess Pooler - in over her head. trial last week was a ten car pile up. state protected her by nolle prossing case during closing arguments.
Sec sup- hold off until tomorrow. Thats our topic.
"Make Room For Shumie"
An individual opens a cigar shop, then obsessively invades an unrelated legal blog with inane and witless posts to generate hits on his website.
Remember all, "Shumie" stands for "SH(it) for U and ME"
This mean war 5:36!!
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see one comment about the mishandling of a basic thing like a contempt hearing. Even if you get passed his unlawful raising of the bond, his mishandling of the contempt hearing just reinforces his lack of knowledge regarding the law.
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