One thought: Should have actually charged her with contempt instead of handcuffing her just so he could humiliate her publicly.

Under what circumstances doesany attorney “deserve” to be 1) addressed by her first name, 2) Handcuffed and forced to sit in the “time-out” chair without 3) actually being charged with contempt?

Except he didn’t “hold her in contempt.” He humiliated her instead.

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m interrupting you!”

No, it’s not. Never. If she's being held in contempt she needs to be charged, not reprimanded like a kid going to time out.

The problem is, he didn’t charge her with contempt. He had a bailiff throw her in handcuffs to humiliate her. Maybe he thinks that it was kinder than charging her with contempt, but it’s also not legal.

Short of stopping the attorney from physically harming someone (and that was not happeneing here) it is wholly inappropriate to handcuff an attorney in Court. Period. (Long time attorney here.)

You can’t tell anything from reading the transcript. The court reporter isn’t going to type all the interjections out fully.

It is completely unwarranted- he didn’t charge her with contempt. He just handcuffed her while she was doing her job and let her go when he thought she learned her lesson. He even said it to the bailiff! His actions, coupled with his statements show that he was overstepping his bounds. I can’t count the number of…

Yes, an attorney can be cited for contempt - however, usually (for anyone not just attorneys) the person in question is very clearly warned by the judge that they are well on their way to a contempt charge.

Plus she kept standing directly in front of him, which is obviously his blind spot. Poor guy was probably startled every time she spoke.

Weird too that he’s a white man and she is a woman (possibly of color)...not surprised he's just asserting himself over her.

LOL, you apparently have no concept of what courtrooms are like. They are tiny kingdoms, and the judge is the reigning monarch.

Oh, I’d rather face the contempt charge. There’s something to fight there and if a judge is holding attorneys in contempt for simply doing their jobs, he’s not long for the bench. Putting her in handcuffs, though. What’s the remedy for that? Report him to his superiors? To the State Bar? Nah, that’s not gonna resolve…

I hope you’re not an English teacher because you don’t understand sentence construction.

There are absolutely judges who will cut you off without even allowing you to make an argument. Sometimes you really do have to push the limits a bit if you are going to effectively advocate for your client. She could have faced a malpractice or disciplinary complaint if she didn’t make the argument.

It is conceivable she was so obnoxious and inappropriate over such a long period of time that the handcuffing is justified.

The handcuffing is a dickish move, but he had warned her to be quiet several times. I get that she’s trying to keep her client out of jail, but surely interrupting the judge like this won’t help matters.

Time out doesn’t have to involve being cuffed. If you are gonna handcuff someone, even if it’s only for a few minutes, charge them properly. If you are gonna hold someone on contempt, then follow the legal process laid out for it. Treating a grown woman like a child in a court of law is inappropriate.

Transcripts don’t really represent who’s interrupting who, because when an attorney and a judge are talking at the same time, the court reporter will take down what the judge is saying.