By Nina Hall
SACRAMENTO – It was a long, long day for Sacramento County Superior Court, Dept. 60, for Judge Scott L. Tedmon—he faced many disruptions in his courthouse throughout a long day of arraignments, and during one the defendant pointedly said, “F**k you.”
The first disruptions this afternoon in the courthouse consisted of what one might expect: claims from the defendant that they were innocent.
Jasper Anderson was charged with threats to commit a crime that causes death or great bodily injury, corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant, and child endangerment.
The victim in this case, Anderson’s ex-girlfriend, alleged that on multiple occasions Anderson entered or attempted to enter her apartment, sometimes with a deadly weapon, where her 10 year-old son lived.
Upon hearing these allegations Anderson shook his head and simply stated, “Didn’t happen.” Judge Tedmon asked Anderson to remain silent and the rest of his arraignment proceeded smoothly.
As the day went on, interruptions in the court became more frequent.
Bryant Booker, who was brought into custody on multiple parole violations, had a hard time remaining silent during his arraignment, at one point stating, “I don’t understand this s**t.”
As his hearing went on, Booker’s outbursts became so frequent that no participants in the hearing were able to communicate or understand each other.
Judge Tedmon reprimanded Booker saying, “Mr. Booker, the court will run this proceeding, do you understand? This is not an open discussion… I don’t want you to say anything, understood?”
However, the largest disruption in the courtroom came at the end of the day from Austin Reid, who was angrily facing a misdemeanor charge. At multiple times during the arraignment he pleaded with the judge, “There’s nothing I can do to be home for Christmas?”
Although attempts were made to reduce his sentence of 90 days in custody, the court decided to keep Reid in custody to serve out the end of his sentence. Upon hearing this Reid proclaimed, “F**k you.”
Reid immediately apologized for his foul language but did not go untouched by Judge Tedmon, who noted, “Excuse me Mr. Reid. I do not allow that kind of language in my courtroom and you are very close to being out of bounds, do you understand?”
The rest of the afternoon’s schedule went on without interruption.
Nina Hall is a sophmore from Colorado at Santa Clara University studying English and Sociology.
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