Tuesday, June 1, 2010

#@!$ You Judge!--That'll Get You Jail

The Miami Herald affiliate, the Sun-Sentinel is reporting the story of the Fort Lauderdale man who's foul mouth landed a 179 day jail sentence.  As I have said on many occasions, do not represent yourself in court, and one more thing when given an opportunity to speak to the Judge do not do what Dwayne "Wiggy" Mitchell did.  This is from Tonya Alanez's report:

"A profanity-laced courtroom outburst has earned a Fort Lauderdale man 179 days in jail.   Dwayne 'Wiggy' Mitchell, 45, cursed and made vulgar references to his genitals and Broward County Judge Lee Jay Seidman while in court on a misdemeanor resisting-arrest charge.  When Seidman asked Mitchell why he should not be held in contempt of court and sentenced to jail for the outburst, Mitchell repeated his crude remarks, according to court documents.

`These rude, insulting and obscene remarks were intentionally spoken, directed at this court and disrupted proceedings,'' Seidman wrote in his final judgment of direct criminal contempt. `These remarks were uttered for the purpose of embarrassing and degrading the court and to impugn the dignity and authority of this court.'

When Mitchell came to court May 24, the prosecutor made a plea offer of 60 days in jail for the resisting-arrest charge, said Mitchell's attorney, assistant public defender Alexander Hunt.But after hearing a recitation of Mitchell's lengthy criminal record, Seidman indicated that he would be inclined to impose a 364-day jail sentence, Hunt said.

Then came the outburst."
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Don't do this sort of thing, harangues never persuade the court to do something positive for you.  Never.  That is unless you consider going directly to jail, something positive. 

3 comments:

  1. You really outdid yourself today, Badness, with posts that are specific, philosophical, educational, contemporaneous and doctrinal. Maybe ther is life after disgrace?

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  2. Question, BL. Does the court recorder notate this dialogue word-for-word into the court transcript?

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  3. Yes. Word-for-word to the best of her or his ability, although I tried a lawsuit last year in a courtroom that was entirely voice recognition--software. The transcript went directly to a hard-drive.
    BL

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