Justice in America

All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton

Power certainly has gone to the head of a judge in Joliet Illinois. The following has been excerpted from a Chicago Tribune article by Steve Schmadeke:

Clifton Williams arrived at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet and sat in the fourth-floor courtroom where his cousin was pleading guilty to a felony drug charge.

As Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak handed down the cousin's sentence -- 2 years' probation -- Williams, 33, stretched and let out a very ill-timed yawn.

Williams' sentence? Six months in jail -- the maximum penalty for criminal contempt without a jury trial. The Richton Park man was locked up July 23 and will serve at least 21 days.

"I was flabbergasted because I didn't realize a judge could do that," said Williams' father, Clifton Williams Sr. "It seems to me like a yawn is an involuntary action."

...

A Tribune review of a decade's worth of contempt-of-court charges reveals that Rozak jails people -- typically spectators whose cell phones go off or who scream or shout profanity during sentencing -- at a far higher rate than any other judge in the county. There are now 30 judges in the 12th Judicial Circuit, but since 1999, Rozak has brought more than a third of all the contempt charges, records show.

...

People in other Will County courtrooms have received less severe sentences for seemingly more flagrant offenses. In Judge Richard Schoenstedt's court last year, a woman was disruptive during closing arguments of a trial; shouted, "This is bull ..." as she was led away; was held to the floor by a deputy; and "continued to be disruptive" after later being brought back before the judge. She received a 7-day sentence for contempt, records show.

Rozak has sentenced more spectators to jail for infractions involving cell phones than any other judge in Will County in the last decade. In 2003, a man who called the judge an "ass" after Rozak ordered him to turn over the phone when it rang in court was sentenced to 10 days but did just 24 hours after apologizing to the judge.

Three years later, a man twice refused to turn over his ringing cell phone to a deputy and then, his phone ringing before the bench, refused to hand it to Rozak. He also received a 6-month sentence, but it was reduced to 18 days after the man apologized, records show.

In the two-story brick home where Williams had been living with his aunt Cheryl Mayfield and caring for his 79-year-old grandmother, family members said they were in shock over the sentence but were unable to afford an attorney to appeal.

"This is ridiculous -- you've got all these people shooting up kids, and here this boy yawns in court [and gets 6 months]. It's crazy," she said. "This could happen to any one of us."

So much for justice in America. I'm willing to believe the guy wasn't an angel, but you deal with that by having the bailiff evict him from the courtroom. You don't jail him.

Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done. Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart

This obviously is not a principle upon which American justice wants to build its system if it allows this kind of outrage to continue in the 12th Judicial Circuit or anywhere else in the country. If anybody should be sent to jail for an outrage to justice, it is Daniel Rozak who has lost sight of the purpose and function of the Law.