local6.com - News - Juror Fined For Yawning In Court
So...you think your HOA board is unreasonable? Submitted for your consideration: Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Craig Veals and The Case of the Yawning Juror...
LOS ANGELES -- A juror was cited for contempt and fined $1,000 by a judge for yawning loudly while awaiting questioning in an attempted murder trial. The fine later was reduced to $100.The yawn came after the man, identified as Juror No. 2386 in an April 1 court transcript, had been sitting in a courtroom for two days as part of jury selection. "You yawned rather audibly there. As a matter of fact, it was to the point that it was contemptuous," Superior Court Judge Craig Veals said. "I'm sorry, but I'm really bored," the juror said. "I'm sorry?" the judge responded. When the juror repeated his statement, he was admonished by the judge for having a "lousy" attitude. "Your boredom just cost you $1,000 I'm finding you in contempt," Veals said. "Are you quite so bored now?"
--------------------
After a good number of years of being a trial attorney, I have an unalterable opinion that the judicial system too often treats ordinary people--parties, jurors, and witnesses--like dirt. One example of this is the endless waiting around while attorneys play games. The juror had been sitting there for two days during jury selection, with nothing to do except listen to lawyers ask the same questions of prospective jurors over and over. He yawned. The judge got mad. The juror apologized and told the obvious truth: he was bored. For this, a citizen doing his civic duty gets fined by the judge. Maybe there is more to the story than appears here, such as the volume of the yawn. Maybe it was a highly public yawn, uttered at high volume with intent to disrupt. Maybe the apology was obviously insincere and the emphasais was on the "I'm bored!" part, which could have been disrespectful. On the other hand, it is possible that the judge displayed a lapse in his own judicial temperament. And maybe he was letting the voir dire go on too long. I don't know. Based on this account...O'Reilly Factor, where are you? Let's get to the bottom of this incident. Fair and balanced...
4 comments:
The judge was absolutely right in correcting the behavior of this juror. In a day where nothing and no one is expected to show some respect, I applaud the judge for pointing out that some things are just not acceptable. There should be some type of protocol in a courtroom or any other public place and being bored is no excuse!
I have seen JUDGES in court yawn repeatedly, falling asleep and even snoring.
There was a recent story in the press about a judge who was detected mastrubating under his robe. This should explain why judges wear this old-fashion black dress...
I just found this blog...probably long forgotten by now, but I just sat in a jury with this judge, and he was disarmingly pleasant and courteous to all of the jurors. I have reason to believe the yawning juror really let out a loud one.
Funny, I probably sat in the courtroom with the person who just entered the previous comment -- I sat with Judge Veals for 4 days before being dismissed for jury selection and while the attorneys may have been boring, the proceedings were not and the Judge was impressive. Impressive enough that I remembered his name and googled it (like the person ahead of me). He made the routine questioning of perspective jurors interesting and he was patient and compassionate. I agree, the yawn must have been really loud. Judge Veals made my whole jury duty experience worthwhile.
Post a Comment