General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Penelope Soto, my hero: Florida teen flipping the finger at abusive judge [View all]anneboleyn
(5,611 posts)Really, our tax dollars are being wasted, when they could be directed towards finding violent criminals or serious drug cartels, because of this judge's circus-courtroom attempt to "punish" this non-violent teenage girl who has no priors and a total of six xanax pills.
So she gets arrested for the six pills, placed in the orange jail suit, then led before the judge. He gets an attitude because she doesn't give him the canned responses he expects, so he becomes sarcastic with her, "We aren't in a nightclub now!" (he doesn't know anything about her life and whether or not she goes to nightclubs!!??) She has jewelry and a car so she admits it rather than saying "no," which is what he is expecting, so he starts losing his cool. He snaps at the public defender (the man who is asking if he could represent the girl to end the mess before it gets started). No, the judge snaps to him,"she can sell her jewelry!!" to pay for her representation and bail. This was so immature and inappropriate for a man of his age and position.
Of course Fox News had the judge propped up as an example of EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED in our criminal system. Yeah, biased, moody, pedants.
Thankfully the second judge saw through the nonsense and asked her to complete a drug program and as long as she finishes the program she can walk free. That is the type of level-headed judiciousness that we truly need.