Contempt Charge Upheld for Defendant Who Sent Judge Nasty Note

FoxNews.com ^ | January 6, 2008 | AP

[ShadowDancer]

Contempt Charge Upheld for Defendant Who Sent Judge Nasty Note

Sunday, January 06, 2008

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Note to defendants: Don't tell the judge to kiss the body part you sit on.

The South Carolina Court of Appeals has upheld a judge's contempt order against a St. Matthews woman who signed a court document with just such an instruction and told a probation officer to return the document to the judge.

Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein found Judith Law in contempt and ordered her to serve 90 extra days. Law challenged the ruling, saying the contemptuous behavior happened outside the judge's view.

"No matter where Law signed the revocation order, her conduct was in the presence of the judge," the Appeals Court wrote in its decision last month.

[Krankor]

"No matter where Law signed the revocation order, her conduct was in the presence of the judge," the Appeals Court wrote in its decision last month
What if she had waited to write it after the judge left the courtroom?

[RichInOC]

If that isn’t punishable as contempt, I’m not entirely sure what would be.

[popdonnelly]

Figures. If she was smart, she wouldn’t be in court in the first place.

[kinoxi]

While signing that probation revocation order, Law decided to tell the judge what she could kiss. Typically that document would not go back to the judge, but when this one did, Goodstein ordered a hearing, found Law in contempt and sentenced her to 90 days on top of her remaining sentence.

I think she earned that charge.