Contempt Breeds Familiarity

By Gordon Hopkins You would think that a journalist who, among other things, has to sit in a courtroom every Wednesday, watching court cases for hours, would have no interest in watching another defendant face off against another prosecution once his or her day is done. After all, if I were a plumber, once the workday ended, I probably wouldn't want to look at another toilet. An yet, when I get off work and go home, I quite often plonk down on the sofa in front of my TV and turn on YouTube, so I can watch even more courtroom antics.During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of court cases were heard via Zoom or other webcam services. When the pandemic subsided, a lot of courtrooms decided to keep holding hearings via video. It was just easier than dragging some hapless slob in chains and orange pajamas from jail to a courtroom for a simple arraignment. The practical upshot is, a lot of these court cases are now available for viewing online.Now, trials have shown up on television for decades but, by-and-large, they were only the big murder cases, such as the trial of Orenthal James Simpson. Now, you can turn to the internet and watch some guy fight a $100 parking ticket or a wild-haired vagrant get arraigned for trespassing or a defendant take a plea to shoplifting a bottle of hooch from Walmart.I am, of course, watching with great interest the trial of former Las Vegas politician Robert Telles, who is accused of murdering Jeff German, investigating journalist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, who wrote a number of stories showing the disgraced politico in a bad light. There are a number of high-profile murder and corruption cases that can be found online. Yet, I find myself more often fascinated by the small cases. It is the assembly line processing of those accused of thefts and domestic violence and drug charges that feels more real to me than the TV movie atmosphere of a dramatic murder trial. Not every courtroom streams online, of course. If Jefferson County did, for example, I could do my job without getting out of bed. For those that do, however, I find myself becoming quite familiar with some of the judges. There is the sympathetic yet stern Judge Middleton in Michigan. There is the tightly-wound, bowtie-wearing Judge Fleischer from Harris County, Texas, who I am convinced will have a stroke before he is 40. There is no-nonsense Judge Simpson, also from Michigan, who can be joking with you one minute and sentence you to 553 days in jail for contempt the next. When you watch these judges long enough, you become familiar with their personalities, their quirks and, most importantly for a judge, their B.S. threshold. So it was a bit startling when I heard one of these judges I almost feel like I know got kicked (temporarily) off the bench. News stories doing the rounds is that Judge Kenneth King of the 36th District Court in Detroit was suspended after he ordered a 15-year-old in his courtroom handcuffed and then dressed in jail garb.The reason? She was falling asleep in court.The problem? She wasn't a defendant. She was on a field trip. The familiarity I have in the way in which Judge King's runs his courtroom has colored my view of the story. Had I not known who he was, then I would, like most people I'm suspect, considered him just another ego-tripping man with power throwing his weight around. Now, lets be clear. I don't know Judge King. I've never met him. I've just seen him on the internet, mostly ruling on speeding tickets and meth possession and things of that nature. Our interaction has been totally one-sided. Yet, I can't help feeling a little disappointed in Judge King.Now, repeated viewings of anyone gives you a false sense of familiarity. It is a thing that movie actors and musicians and sports stars have been dealing with for ages.

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