Teen flips the bird to a judge

[Morgan]

Anyone that thinks that it is appropriate to gesture a judge to **CENSORED** off has the mentality of a undisciplined punk teenager

[Morgan]

MIAMI — A young Miami woman apologized for flipping off a judge, who then dropped contempt charges and vacated her 30-day jail term.

Eighteen-year-old Penelope Soto admitted today she was under the influence of Xanax and alcohol when she made the obscene middle- finger gesture and rude comments earlier this week directed at Circuit Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat. Video of the confrontation quickly went viral.

Soto tearfully apologized to the judge, who said the episode should be a lesson in how to properly treat people. Rodriguez-Chomat said Soto would have been a convicted felon if he allowed the contempt charge to stand.

Her lawyer said Soto will complete a drug court program, which includes treatment for drug addiction and usually results in charges eventually being dropped for first-time offenders.

[NewEnglandTebows]

Anyone that thinks that it is appropriate to gesture a judge to **CENSORED** off has the mentality of a undisciplined punk teenager

Respect is earned not given

[VinBucFan]

Anyone that thinks that it is appropriate to gesture a judge to **CENSORED** off has the mentality of a undisciplined punk teenager

Respect is earned not given

you think the Judge just walked in of the street?

[Morgan]

when you gesture a judge you're gesturing the people behind the judge - the community that he serves and was elected by, you dip**CENSORED**.

[NewEnglandTebows]

when you gesture a judge you're gesturing the people behind the judge - the community that he serves and was elected by, you dip**CENSORED**.

Yep that confirms it you are definitely 12.

[GameTime]

Respect is earned not given

why do you think a judge has not earned respect?

[olafberserker]

So if someone flips me the bird I should expect to see them jailed for 30 days correct?

Not correct. You would deserve it.

So every time someone flicks you off they deserve 30 days in jail? Hmm kind of pussies is this country turning into...

Should the judge have jumped down and kicked her butt instead?

[Legend]

Why vacate it? People will never learn if you keep giving them chances. She came to her court date stone and drunk, she obviously doesn't care.

[VinBucFan]

Why vacate it? People will never learn if you keep giving them chances. She came to her court date stone and drunk, she obviously doesn't care.

first timer offender and I believe criminal contempt might be a felony (not sure). 

The judge got what he wanted, which was to make sure every other criminal in their realized he was in charge of his own courtroom, and then he appropriately let her off with an apology and an admission (apparently) that she was intoxicated.

[Morgan]

Its reassuring to see that most of you agree with me and disagree w/ the bozo who thinks it's appropriate to give a judge a **CENSORED** you gesture.

[Oracle]

She was obviously on drugs while talking to the judge.   In my opinion, that alone deserves a 30 day stint in the hoosegow.

[Runole]

Respect is earned not given

why do you think a judge has not earned respect?

I guess it would depend on the judge and decisions that have been rendered in the past. Personally, I believe there is certain modicum of respect deserved if close scrutiny has been done on any particular judges past and it comes up clean.  That being said I do feel that too many judges present themselves a godlike and not actually human like everyone else and that is absolutely ridiculous and repugnant.

Even though they probably would disagree I am sure their poop smells just as bad as mine and not the rose petals they claim they emit from their anus.

[Lord Freesus]

Anyone that thinks that it is appropriate to gesture a judge to **CENSORED** off has the mentality of a undisciplined punk teenager

Respect is earned not given

you think the Judge just walked in of the street?

The country is full of little district courts, and the bar is, uh, not quite so high there. In fact, often all it takes to don the black robe is passing a simple test of 50 true/false questions, including this thinker: "Town and village justices must maintain dignity, order, and decorum in their courtrooms -- true or false?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/nyregion/26courts.html?pagewanted=1

That question is from a district judge exam in New York state, and perhaps unsurprisingly, no one has failed it since 1999. In fact, it's more surprising that someone actually did fail it, because you only need 70 percent correct to pass, and you can retake it as many times as you like. And these small town courts aren't just relegated to the rural areas of New York -- they are everywhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/nyregion/25courts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The scariest part is that three-quarters of the judges appointed to these courts have no legal training whatsoever, and some of them never even finished high school.
But surely these judges only deal with cases involving crop tampering and cattle disputes -- there's no way the government would let them hand down prison sentences, right? Wrong! They handle around 300,000 criminal cases a year, plus millions of minor offenses like misdemeanors and traffic violations, and dole out a heap of jail time. Who's watching over them to make sure they're following procedure? Probably nobody!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/nyregion/14courts.html?pagewanted=all

There is almost no oversight -- in New York state, for instance, the branch responsible for keeping tabs on 1,250 district judges is staffed by only 29 people. See, suddenly all of those "crazy judge hands out wacky sentence" news stories make sense.

Only sometimes it's not so funny. Take the case of Stanley Yusko, a judge in the Catskills who frequently and illegally imprisoned people for months before trial.

http://boingboing.net/2010/02/20/new-yorks-small-town.html

Or Elaine Rider, who got so confused when a lawyer argued that evidence had been seized illegally that she asked the prosecutor to decide the case for her.

http://www.cjc.ny.gov/Determinations/R/Rider.Elaine.M.1987.01.30.DET.pdf

Or John Cox, the quarry worker turned judge who had a habit of jailing anyone unable to pay a fine (he only got away with this for 22 years before someone told him to stop, at which point he claimed that it was the first time anyone had told him not to). Want us to keep going? OK, how about Donald Roberts, the former state trooper turned judge who denied a woman a protection order against her husband on the basis that "every woman needs a good pounding now and then."

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jun/11/judge-who-said-women-need-beating-removed-from/


The piece of ish was finally ejected from office.

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=199718491NY2d93_1174.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006

[VinBucFan]

Anyone that thinks that it is appropriate to gesture a judge to **CENSORED** off has the mentality of a undisciplined punk teenager

Respect is earned not given

you think the Judge just walked in of the street?

The country is full of little district courts, and the bar is, uh, not quite so high there. In fact, often all it takes to don the black robe is passing a simple test of 50 true/false questions, including this thinker: "Town and village justices must maintain dignity, order, and decorum in their courtrooms -- true or false?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/nyregion/26courts.html?pagewanted=1

That question is from a district judge exam in New York state, and perhaps unsurprisingly, no one has failed it since 1999. In fact, it's more surprising that someone actually did fail it, because you only need 70 percent correct to pass, and you can retake it as many times as you like. And these small town courts aren't just relegated to the rural areas of New York -- they are everywhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/nyregion/25courts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The scariest part is that three-quarters of the judges appointed to these courts have no legal training whatsoever, and some of them never even finished high school.
But surely these judges only deal with cases involving crop tampering and cattle disputes -- there's no way the government would let them hand down prison sentences, right? Wrong! They handle around 300,000 criminal cases a year, plus millions of minor offenses like misdemeanors and traffic violations, and dole out a heap of jail time. Who's watching over them to make sure they're following procedure? Probably nobody!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/nyregion/14courts.html?pagewanted=all

There is almost no oversight -- in New York state, for instance, the branch responsible for keeping tabs on 1,250 district judges is staffed by only 29 people. See, suddenly all of those "crazy judge hands out wacky sentence" news stories make sense.

Only sometimes it's not so funny. Take the case of Stanley Yusko, a judge in the Catskills who frequently and illegally imprisoned people for months before trial.

http://boingboing.net/2010/02/20/new-yorks-small-town.html

Or Elaine Rider, who got so confused when a lawyer argued that evidence had been seized illegally that she asked the prosecutor to decide the case for her.

http://www.cjc.ny.gov/Determinations/R/Rider.Elaine.M.1987.01.30.DET.pdf

Or John Cox, the quarry worker turned judge who had a habit of jailing anyone unable to pay a fine (he only got away with this for 22 years before someone told him to stop, at which point he claimed that it was the first time anyone had told him not to). Want us to keep going? OK, how about Donald Roberts, the former state trooper turned judge who denied a woman a protection order against her husband on the basis that "every woman needs a good pounding now and then."

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jun/11/judge-who-said-women-need-beating-removed-from/


The piece of ish was finally ejected from office.

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=199718491NY2d93_1174.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006

This specific judge's bio is available online. It's easy to find.  In any event, no one said judges are perfect, just like society isnt perfect, but the comment was "respect was earned not given"  Take a look at his bio