Judge's Bitey Dogs Cost her the Bench



Judge Beatrice Bolton

 A British Judge's "vicious" German Shepherds have cost her, her job, at least for now.  It's probably more accurate to say that the Judge's poor reaction to charges relating to her dogs have cost her, her seat for the time being.  The following is an excerpt from the Daily Mail article:

"A judge who said her conviction for owning a dangerous dog was a 'f****** travesty' has had her pets taken away by police.  Judge Beatrice Bolton, 57, was arrested again after a third alleged attack by the animals in a year.

Last year she told reporters: 'I'll never set foot in a court again,' after being convicted of failing to control her dog.  But it has been revealed that she was questioned and bailed following an alleged incident near her home on the outskirts of Rothbury, Northumberland, last week.

On Wednesday, a 22-year-old man reported being bitten in the leg close to where the judge lives.  Police arrested the judge the same day and took her two German shepherds 'to assure public safety' [ . . . ]
'Police have taken action to assure public safety and these dogs have been removed.'  A police source added: 'Beatrice Bolton was taken to Alnwick Police Station for questioning after the report.
Judge Bolton has not sat at Newcastle Crown Court since December when she was convicted of failing to control her German shepherd bitch Georgina and stormed out of Carlisle Magistrates' Court swearing.

'Dangerous': Judge Beatrice Bolton's dog, Georgina, who bit her neighbours' 20-year-old son, who was sunbathing in the garden which their two properties shared on May 31 last year.

The £140,000-a-year judge starting shouting and wailing during proceedings. Later, as the court adjourned for lunch Judge Bolton emerged from a side room but was clearly still fuming.

She yelled: ‘Do you want a statement? I’ll give you a statement. I have no faith in the justice system whatsoever.  ‘I will never sit in a court of law again. How can he (the magistrate) say that? How can [t]he b***** say that?’

The judge was then ushered back into the side room by her solicitor and family in a desperate attempt to calm her.  She later returned to court and was ordered to apologise for swearing. She muttered: ‘I apologise.’  She was fined £2,500 after Georgina attacked her neighbours' 20-year-old son, who was sunbathing in the garden which their two properties shared on May 31 last year.

Then the Royal Mail suspended deliveries to her home and neighbouring properties in April after postman Kenneth Auld was bitten.  Mr Auld, 52, from Morpeth, received treatment in hospital for an injury to his leg and spent a week off work[.]"

Intemperate Lawyer, or Just Zealously Representing His Client?

The Boston Globe (with a hat tip to the ABAJournal) reports on the jailing of a CDL (criminal defense lawyer) who was slightly intemperate during a jury empanelment.  Here's the story:

"The fiery attorney who represented former Boston city councilor Chuck Turner in his bribery trial is now headed to jail himself, [Barry P. Wilson (pic) was] sentenced yesterday to three months behind bars after drawing the ire of a judge during jury selection for a murder trial earlier this month.


'Mr. Wilson, your behavior before me two weeks ago was atrocious,’ said Suffolk Superior Court Judge Patrick F. Brady to Barry P. Wilson. He called Wilson’s conduct 'the worst I’ve seen in 20 years on the bench.’  Wilson, a criminal defense attorney who has practiced law for almost 36 years, recently shaved his trademark scraggly gray beard, but he replied to the judge in his well-known booming voice and effusive manner.

'I don’t think my conduct was egregious or out of line in terms of what occurred in court,’ [Wilson] said.

[ . . .]Wilson also represented Garrett Jackson, who was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for killing a rival drug dealer. During the jury selection phase, Wilson lashed out at the court’s decision to seat a man with a law enforcement background, after dismissing a woman who told the court that her two sons had criminal records.

'How can I look at my client and say he should think this is legitimate after you make a ruling like that and you excuse a woman who had two children. . .’' Wilson told Brady during the May 5 empanelment.

'No way I’m gonna try a case with that man,’' he said referring to the former Department of Homeland Security employee Brady chose to sit on the jury. 'That’s ridiculous. Fifteen years as a federal agent and he’s gonna be unbiased? Are you kidding me? I can’t do it, I won’t do it.  And the other thing is I think maybe if he’s standing outside there you better go ask him if he heard me screaming because I think you gotta excuse him now cause I think he knows I don’t like him,’  Wilson said, according to a typed transcript provided by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Brady replied, 'Mr. Wilson, is there some reason why I should not hold you in contempt?’"
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As you might imagine, a number of local Boston CDL came to Barry Wilson's defense. 

I've seen this sort of thing a number of times over the years, and in one instance was the object of a Judge who wildly accused me of similar conduct, although the transcript did not reflect any disrespectful behavior and contempt was not sustained.  I suspect that Mr. Wilson's reputation for this sort of thing played against him.  Of course the defense is always:  I was zealously representing my client.  This used to play, unfortunately the rules of ethics have been moving away from this fig leaf for intemperate behavior and language. 

But good for Barry Wilson.  Pay the price and get back to work. 

"[Sir, You are] Gayer than a Sweet Smelling Jock Strap"

The tireless blawgers (Debra Cassens Weiss and Marhta Neil) at the ABAJournal website have unearthed a couple of remarkable news items which illustrate the propensity of Judges to unhinge a bit in their pronouncements from the bench.  The following video speaks for itself:

Video: Judge Philip Kirk's remarks: fox11online.com