I’m sure many people find court proceedings boring, even if a self-important judge is deciding the fate of a family member guilty only of a victimless crime. This is evidently how Clifton Williams, a 33 year old Chicago man, felt when he stretched and let out a yawn as his cousin was sentenced to two years probation for a felony drug charge in the Will County, IL courthouse.
Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak didn’t take too kindly to this, and found Williams in contempt of court, sentencing him to six months in jail. Court officials described the yawn as a “loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings.” The family insist that it was an ordinary, involuntary yawn.
Rozack has something of a reputation for holding people in contempt when they fail to respect his authoritah, handing down more than one third of all contempt cases on the 12th circuit (30 judges) since 1999. Many of these have been for frivolous offences such as a defendant not sitting where the judge asked, talking loudly and calling the judge “boss;” refusing to hand over ringing cellphones to the judge; and expressing disapproval of verdicts in moderately colorful language.
Judges have very wide discretionary powers to decide on what constitutes contempt, with any rude or disruptive behavior in court, or anything which disrupts of the performance of a judge’s duties outside court, having the potential to land you in jail. This arbitrary power of judges makes a mockery of the concept of the rule of law, rather than men. When people have near-absolute power, many are sure to abuse it when they feel personally aggrieved. The most amusing example is that of a Filipino judge holding people in contempt for parking in his parking space, accidently flooding his office, and turning off his electricity.
This is something those who engage in civil disobedience [warning:video] need to watch out for. You may not accept the authority of the judge, but, if you piss him off, he can lock you up for just about anything. You can ignore the state, but that doesn’t mean it will ignore you.
Brad Taylor is a graduate student in Political Science at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He blogs at 
Yet another reason why government should be abolished. This “judge” is an absolute mad man.
Somebody’s dad didn’t beat his ass with a belt often enough when he was a kid. . . and so he grew up to be a judge, but without the sense to do the job. . .
I saw this on the MSN homepage, and tweeted to the mulititudes. Glad you picked it up. This is unreal. Was this judge in the psycho fraternity with Judge Burke?
@Rev. James:
Somebody’s dad didn’t beat his ass with a belt often enough when he was a kid
So, are you suggesting that physical abuse of this man’s body when he was a child would have made the world a better place?
I’d like to see the calculus under which that makes even the smallest iota of sense.
Prosecutors who lack compassion are often at the head of the list for those being selected as judges. Ambitious prosecutors know this, and do whatever it takes to get plenty of notches on their guns.