Death to Cell Phones!!!

[BasketCase]

Panel Gives Judge a Ringing Rebuke

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A judge in Niagara Falls, New York, has apologized for jailing nearly four dozen people over a ringing mobile phone in his courtroom, his attorney said Wednesday.

In removing City Court Judge Robert Restaino from office Tuesday, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct called his decision to lock up 46 people after no one claimed ownership of the phone "a gross deviation from the proper role of a judge."

But Restaino's lawyer, Terrence Connors, said Wednesday the judge "profoundly apologizes for his actions" during the March 2005 hearing and will appeal the panel's ruling.

"It is our hope that the Court of Appeals will measure those few hours against a decade of exemplary conduct on the bench," Connors said in a written statement.

But the commission found Restaino's conduct so egregious that his 11 years of service and clean record did not matter.

"We conclude that respondent's behavior ... warrants the sanction of removal, notwithstanding his previously unblemished record on the bench and the testimony as to his character and reputation," the panel ruled.

According to the commission report, Restaino was presiding over a domestic-violence case when a ringing mobile phone interrupted proceedings. When no one took responsibility for the ringing phone, Restaino ordered that court security officers search for the device.

About 70 defendants were in the courtroom that day to take part in a monitoring program for domestic violence offenders. When no one admitted to owning the phone, Restaino heard the remaining cases and then recalled the cases of defendants who had already been released to question them about the phone, according to the commission report.

After all the defendants denied having the phone or knowing who it belonged to, Restaino sent 46 people to jail. Fourteen who were unable to make bail were handcuffed and jailed for several hours.

According to the report, Restaino decided to release defendants only after learning reporters were inquiring about their incarceration.

Throwing people in jail for misusing their cell phones. I love it.

The only downside is the judge got snubbed for his actions. More power to him, I say.

 

[Stylesjl]

Fact is he locked up innocent people

Idiot judge

 

[Shylock]

Fact is he locked up innocent people

Idiot judge

He probably does that at least monthly. Daily if you consider things that really shouldn't be against the law.

 

[Damnyankee]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7117014.stm

Spoiler :

BBC NEWS
S Korea probes 'cell phone death'
Authorities in South Korea are investigating the death of a man amid reports he may have been killed by an exploding mobile phone battery.

He was found at his workplace with a melted battery in his shirt pocket and punctured lungs and heart.

Phone maker LG said the cell would have been rigorously tested and was only sold in Korea but it could not comment further because of the police probe.

A welder in China was reportedly killed by an exploding cell phone in July.

Soot shape

The 33-year-old South Korean was found in a quarry where he worked in Cheongwon County in North Chungcheong Province, 135km (85 miles) south of Seoul, police said.

We confirm that the handset which is presumed to be involved in the incident is manufactured and sold only in Korea
LG statement

A co-worker said the victim was bleeding from the nose and his shirt had soot in the shape of a phone.

Kim Hun, a doctor at Chungbuk National University Hospital, told South Korea's Kookmin Ilbo: "There were burns on his left chest, and fractures of his ribs and spine as well as haemorrhaging in the lungs.

"Considering all these factors, it seems that high pressure from an explosion damaged his lungs and heart, leading to his death."

A police investigation is under way.

Phone maker LG issued a statement saying it rigorously tested its products and the lithium-ion polymer batteries had been approved for consumers by independent agencies.

It said: "We are not in a position to discuss this incident further, as an investigation by the Korean police department and the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (Nisi) is underway.

"We confirm that the handset which is presumed to be involved in the incident is manufactured and sold only in Korea."

Korean media said this was the first case of a suspected phone battery fatality in the country.

The case in China's Gansu province was attributed to the man's high working temperatures. The explosion apparently drove rib splinters through his heart and he died after emergency surgery.

High temperatures would not have been the cause on such a cold day in a Korean quarry, local media said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7117014.stm

Published: 2007/11/28 16:05:33 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[woody60707]

Fact is he locked up innocent people

Idiot judge

1 Ring, 46 jailed people. So he KNOWINGLY jailed 45 innocent people!!!

This judge getting removed should be a given. What should be looking in to is if this judge should facing jail time. He knowingly jailed 45 innocent people, thats an outrage, and if it anit a crime, it damn well should be!!!

It used to be said that it’s better for 10 guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be jailed. This is the core of the US legal system.

 

[Shylock]

Cumulative punishments are outlawed by the Geneva Convention.

 

[Fëanor]

Cumulative punishments are outlawed by the Geneva Convention.

I think you mean Collective punishments, i am pretty sure that Cumulative punishments are allowed

 

[druidravi]

This is a sort of School teacher mentality. If some wrong is done and no one admits who has done the mistake , the teacher threatens to punish the whole class till someone admits.

 

[Merkinball]

Only in Niagara Falls...of course, this is something that'd happen in Brevard County Florida too...

 

[BirraImperial]

This is a sort of School teacher mentality. If some wrong is done and no one admits who has done the mistake , the teacher threatens to punish the whole class till someone admits.

My thoughts exactly. What a moron, good that he was removed.

 

[Norton II]

Things like this don't surprise me anymore. Sure, they piss me off, but they don't surprise me one bit. The only unusual thing here is that the judge didn't get away with it.

 

[sourboy]

Give him a squad car -- no, no -- a patty wagon (heh) -- and let him round up the teenie boppers cruising in my neighborhood.

 

[Elrohir]

Locking up people for not turning off their cell phones = good.

Locking up innocent people because you don't know who did something bad = bad.

 

[Swedishguy]

I say, throw him in jail!

 

[holy king]

Locking up people for not turning off their cell phones = good.

yeah, i've heard us-prisons are too empty anyway...

 

[Elrohir]

yeah, i've heard us-prisons are too empty anyway...

Yeah, we need to keep the empty prisons occupied at least a little, so they don't fall into disrepair.

 

[LucyDuke]

Throwing people in jail for misusing their cell phones.

Um, no. That's throwing innocent people in jail because you're bitter that no one would admit to being the annoying bastard. And it's completely wrong.

 

[GuitarHero]

Personally, I say that we throw Jessica Simpson, Diana DiGarmo, Justin Timberlake, and Pink into the very same judge's courtroom with a ringing cell phone. It's for the good of humanity.