Thursday, August 13, 2009
Not in Judge Rozak's court
Do not misbehave in Judge Daniel Rozak’s courtroom. The Chicago Circuit Court justice has a quick trigger for jailing anyone who does anything to disrupt courtroom proceedings, from allowing cell phones to go off to simply yawning.
Rozak’s knack for citing people for contempt of court gained media attention after he sentenced Clifton Williams, who was observing a trial, to six months in jail for stretching and yawning while the judge handed down the sentence for Williams’ cousin, who had pled guilty to a felony drug charge. The prosecutor claimed Williams’ action was “not a simple yawn—it was a loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings.”
A review by the Chicago Tribune of contempt-of-court charges revealed that Rozak tends to jail people more often than other judges do. Of the 30 judges in the 12th Judicial Circuit who have issued contempt charges since 1999, Rozak has handed down more than a third of them.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Judge Sentences Man to 6 Months in Jail for Yawning (by Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune)
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