Gregg wrote:Ten Years?
Wow...is that some kind of judicial hyperbole or did this mug just ring the bell for more time than some people get for second degree murder by just telling a Judge off?
Does he have to purge the contempt and do the dime before he goes to trial for whatever he was originally charged with?
More power to the Judge, but the real value of this case would be making Sov CIts and idiots in general watch a tape of it before they're allowed in the courtroom.
I would not be remotely surprised if the judge wound up facing discipline. At the very least, yes, ten years is "judicial hyperbole".
There are two types of contempt, civil and criminal. Civil contempt is coercive; it's intended to get the contemnor to do something or stop doing something. The punishment can be open-ended (in other words, an indefinite jail stay), but "the keys are in the contemnor's pocket"; as soon as the contemnor does/stops doing the thing, then the contempt has been purged, and the punishment has to stop. Criminal contempt is punitive; it's intended to punish what's already been done. Since criminal contempt lacks the "you can stop the punishment by behaving" aspect, the punishments available are more sharply restricted by the due-process clause. And in particular, any "serious punishment" -- which means, among other things, imprisonment for more than a few months -- requires a separate criminal trial, with all the usual protections in place (right to counsel, right to a jury, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, etc.).
So a ten-year proclamation from the bench cannot possibly stand.
(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice. Consult your own lawyer before pissing off a judge. May cause drowsiness; alcohol may intensify this effect.)