This gets you 30 days in jail.
- Thread starter Beantown
- Start date
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyKN8OzzO8s
candrew
Well-Known Member
I won't be shedding tears for Chad Johnson any time soon; but if you watch the entire video this judge is a megalomaniacal bitch. If she wanted to punish someone she should have punished all the court employees who started laughing like little kids when he patted his lawyer on the butt. If they didn't react like they did she probably would not have noticed.
Beantown
Well-Known Member
Now you are just splitting hairs.
Stephen A. Smith at his very best...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGh8Tv9fnyg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGh8Tv9fnyg
He didn't get 30 days for that slap. The judge refused his plea because of the slap and went back to the original sentencing of 30 days for violating his probation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usLgH3RvDmE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usLgH3RvDmE
If you pay attention to the video, the judge had accepted the plea until everybody laughed at the butt slap. He went to jail because he slapped the butt.
candrew
Well-Known Member
The arrangement that his lawyer made before the hearing was that he'd get no jail time.
?? What??? You guys need to watch it again:
--> Judge was in the process of accepting the plea, she was reading out the details out loud
--> he slapped the butt
--> everyone laughed
--> judge changed her mind and refused the plea (as it hadn't been finalized at that point)
--> she handed back the sheet of paper with the details of the plea negotiation
--> Then she said "I'm not accepting his plea negotiation"
--> judge went back to handing him the original sentence of 30 days
You can't hand someone a 30 day jail sentence for "slapping someone's butt". She was in the process of accepting the plea, but it hadn't been finalized, then she chose not to accept it (the reason would be that he didn't show "remorse" I would assume, which would have been one of the conditions of the plea).
So she simply went back to enforcing the original sentence of 30 days - which is the most lawful thing she do.
It's almost like the butt slap indicated to the judge that Johnson thought of the plea agreement as some sort of victory.
At least, that's what it indicated to me.
That's idiotic. If she felt he deserved that she shouldn't have been in the process of accepting the plea deal in the first place.
The message this sends is amazing. Apparently head butting your girlfriend doesn't deserve jail time, but you'd better not do something minor like playfully smack your attorney because then you do deserve jail time. It's extremely stupid, and the only reason it's happening is because the judge is a c-word who is a massive control freak.
Isn't it? Are there people who interpret that getting out of jail time isn't a victory for them?
I'm not a lawyer, but I thought judges are generally given more rope to rule on the length of the sentence if:
1. The accused is a 1st time offender;
2. The accused is an outstanding citizen of the community (appropriate references should be brought in as proof);
3. The accused is truly remorseful of his/her action.
It seems to me that up until that point of sentencing, the lawyer had done a good job in convincing the judge that the above 3 conditions are met.
However, his action in court (i.e., the slapping) clearly indicated to the Judge that he was not "remorseful" of his action.
Concluding remarks
- Was it an over reaction on the Judge's part? Yes.
- Was it entirely within the law for her to deny the plea negotiation? Yes.
This is a classic example of if you can afford a good lawyer, what you can get away with. Unfortunately in this case, even money can't hide how stupid Chad really is.
Which is why the judge interpreted it as Johnson not taking the issue seriously.
I faced jail time at one point in 2002(?), but we put together money for a very expensive, capable lawyer, and I got probation. I was relieved, but I did not celebrate getting probation. I certainly didn't feel like it was a victory, except perhaps of the Pyrrhic kind.