Downright hilarious

This past week had both sad news and optimistic news, but nothing compares to what happened in a Niagara Falls courtroom in 2005.

On the morning of March 11, 2005, Judge Robert Restaino was presiding over a series of domestic violence cases when he heard a cell phone ring. At this point in time he told the courtroom, “Every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now.” Security officers attempted to find the phone, but had failed. After a brief recess had occurred, Judge Restaino returned to the bench, and asked one more time who was responsible for the ringing phone.

No one came forward and admitted to having the cell phone, and he ordered all forty-six of them to be taken into custody and set bail at $1,500. He was quoted as saying, “This person, whoever he or she may be, doesn’t have a whole lot of concern. Let’s see how much concern they have when they are sitting in the back there with all the rest of you.” One defendant, according to the report, complained to the judge, saying “This is not fair to the rest of us,” to which the judge replied, “I know it isn’t.”

It’s hard to know who was acting more childish, the judge or the courtroom, given that these are all grown adults, but it sounded so much like a third-grade classroom. It is quite a travesty to see nowadays that people simply do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. All of this could have been avoided had the person taken one of many actions. First, he or she could’ve turned off the cell phone and had some respect for the courtroom. Second, he could have set the ringer to “vibrate,” since nearly every cell phone made has this setting. Third, the person could have just admitted to their fault, apologized, and moved on with life.

But then again, we wouldn’t have this great news story.