Seriously: Shut Your Cell Phone Off! Ep. 6.037

hello welcome once again relate to us as well I'm Steve Leto Bryan passed along a story to me said Steve I don't know if you seen this one yet or not and I hadn't again if you see stories in the news regarding laws or la Breakers crimes anything send it my way more the more the merrier so this is out of the Citrus County Chronicle I believe that's in Florida and the story says that Judge Richard Howard has got a new rule and the headline affects his Howard's new rule cellphone goes off in court you go in a cell okay so your cell phone could not land you in a Cell Circuit Court Judge Richard Rick Howard who is the administrative judge for the Citrus County Courthouse in Inverness has been announcing a change to his courtrooms policy on cell phones and other electronic devices during the start of his hearings this week now the story came out a few months ago but it's it's recent and it deserves more attention because we've all been places where cell phones went off and they shouldn't have depending where you are that can be a problem if Howard or as bailiffs hear an electronic device going off during hearings during hearings their owner will be detained until the end of the dockets the judge said Howard's prior punishment for such interruption was they have bailiffs confiscate the device and return it at the end of Howard's courtroom duties Howard said Tuesday in court that a woman's cell phone went off on Monday as she was in a courtroom gallery and the judge held her in contempt she spent five to six hours in the county jail Howard said to court attendees if you want that leave your cell phone on now notice he does say it has to go off during a hearing so if you walk into the courtroom nothing's happening apparently if your cell phone goes off it's not that big of a deal but I've been in court before and I've seen a cell phone go off I've heard a cell phone go off I've heard something go off in a courtroom when it shouldn't have and I've seen judges I've seen bailiffs walk out before court even start to say everyone please shut your cellphone's off I've still seen one go off I've also seen signs taped to the courtroom doors electronic devices must be turned off cell phones still go off I've seen courthouse where they say you cannot bring those things in the building at all okay now here's the thing that seems extreme to me and I know some courthouses where they say everyone's got to leave their electronic devices in their cars we're let's say ok but it's ok for attorneys well that attorneys bring them in and it turnings will still get lectured where they'll person who's doing the metal detector will actually say you can bring that in if you're an attorney but you better not let that thing go off in a corner ok but some people have asked me say Steve what's with these judges who think they're God well I have news for you in the courtroom a judge is God and I know people say Steve come on they're just people wearing a black robe they are they are but the law the courts the Constitution everything it talks about how important different things are in our society we have an executive branch which is a president or a governor in a state we have the legislative branch which is the Congress in Washington or in my case in Lansing and of course it's a judicial branch the Supreme Court in the lower courts different jurisdictions and the courts are an important part of that structure they're just as important as any one of the other two branches to rebrand the government each one is important checks and balances and all that and our courts have since time immemorial allowed judges to run their courts as they see fit within reason ok so I told you the story about the crazy judge in in Brighton Michigan who got in trouble and got kicked off the bench now she's being put on trial for some things she did and obviously there are limits to what they can do but judges are given a broad discretion you know how they run their courtrooms and that often means that they can say things like I don't want cameras in here or if you bring cameras in as me certain rules you're gonna follow such as don't photograph jurors okay or if you know there's a lot of different situations if there's children involved in the proceedings don't don't photograph the children and again judges are also allowed to do things that make the courtroom run more smoothly and one of those is to now have cellphones going off during the proceedings and I've seen it happen before where two sides are making argument from the judge and everyone's paying attention also the cellphone goes off over here and and it's so totally inappropriate and I don't feel sorry for somebody who gets thrown in jail for the cell phone going off or being held in contempt and being held for a little while if they've been told everyone shut your cell phone off now if you don't know how to turn your own cell phone off you might have other problems that go beyond whether or not your meeting held in contempt of court okay and I admit I have a cellphone I've had a cell phone for many many years and I admit there was a time or two where I've had a phone that I thought was shut off I thought was muted or whatever but it never happened to me in court you know why because one in courtroom I shut the thing off I don't want to run that risk and the whole point is that the judge is trying to hear cases every case it appears in front of this important every litigant that appears in front of them every turn it appears in front every party gets the same respect and attention focused on them when they get up here so you don't want people back here you know playing tiddlywinks look it up playing with their cell phones making noises beepers pagers any that stuff going off you don't want it going on I can tell you right now there was a judge in Oakland County Michigan whose bailiff would come out five minutes before the judge did and you actually say cell phones off reading material put away meaning that if you had your case out your case file and you're reading your own case file you're fine but if you pull that a newspaper and open it up like you're reading The Wall Street Journal waiting for your kids to get called the bailiff would actually come over and say excuse me put this away because it's disrespectful it's disrespectful and also you hear something crackling paper back there can be annoying I can tell you I've seen people clipping their fingernails in a courtroom before click click click and is one of those things where I'm watching Gong I wondering if the judge can hear that I'm wondering if the bailiff can hear that you know I mean people don't think these things through okay and it's unfortunate because most of this stuff is not done by the actual litigants or people who come to court it's often done by the attorneys being honest you and what really is the problem is some attorneys get so comfortable in the courtroom that they forget that they're supposed to be holding it in the high esteem that they do and I you know I've been in courts before I've been there so often I know the clerk or I know the judge or you know whatever and I have to remind myself just to make sure by the way you know that man personally but he's got it he's got his robe on right now he's a judge yes your honor absolutely your honor and you know outside the building I might not tack on so many your honors but I'll still say it to him but you know so the judge who says hey look you know turn your cell phone off that thing goes off I'm going to hold you in contempt this is actually not as crazy as you'd think it made national headlines but you know I can tell you that there I've talked before about how courtrooms are set up I've done a couple different videos talking about this the mechanics of a courtroom and you know the judge sits up on the bench just often a court reporter here in a witness box here and a jury box on one side and two tables down in front for the parties to sit at and usually behind the tables is is a is a little wall yeah and sometimes it's referred to as the bar it is actually the bar that separates the gallery from the litigants and it's usually the case that in a formal setting you don't pass through that bar without being invited okay and so your case is called you can come on up okay and I've actually seen it before where that bar had a flat surface on it and I remember being in the courtroom once and an attorney who was a little bit too comfortable walked in with a big file which why on earth a file would be that thick I don't know but he had a big thick file put it on the on the bar he started walking away from it and the bailiff goes excuse me the attorney looked he goes if you leave it there on a shoot it off and the guy looked at the attorney enough to see the bailiff was joking and the bailiff was not laughing the bailiff had a gun I don't think he's gonna really shoot it off the attorney went back there and he picked it up carried it away there's certain things you do you don't put your feet up on the bench in front of you in a courtroom either you can do that in a movie theater if you want to be an idiot but don't do it in a courtroom you know and you know I remember having students in class wear baseball caps in class and we had a class up and that in a mock courtroom and I said I want to pretend that this is a courtroom guys take your hats off that always have one or two go what are you talking about and I'm going better use two weeks you aren't wearing a hat a courtroom and there are certain things you just do and I know some of you guys are going that's old school Stephen that's real old school it once in a while old school stuff is cool okay that's cool to be old school like Huey Lewis had a song about that but I could be wrong if he doesn't he does now so there you go Judge Richard Howard in Citrus County Circuit Court if your cell phone goes off you go sit in the cell for a while to think about what you've done questions or comments put them below otherwise talk together bye-bye you

Channel: Steve Lehto

Views: 89,127

Rating: 4.8687859 out of 5

Keywords: lemon law, michigan lemon law, lemon law attorney, lemon law lawyer, http://www.lehtoslaw.com, steve lehto

Id: e0dPh7-RBUE

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 05 2019