A New York judge has been removed from the bench for jailing an entire courtroom audience after none of them admitted being responsible for a ringing phone. The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended the removal of Judge Restaino for what its chairman called "two hours of inexplicable madness" on the morning of March 11, 2005.
It said the 48-year-old judge had been presiding over a series of domestic violence cases when he heard a mobile phone ring and "snapped". "Every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now," he told the courtroom's audience. Security officers then attempted to find the phone but failed.
Judge Restaino returned to the bench and again asked who had been responsible for the ringing phone. When no-one came forward, the judge ordered that the entire courtroom audience of 46 people be taken into custody and set bail at $1,500. "This troubles me more than any of you people can understand," the judge explained. "Ultimately, when you go back there to be booked, you've got to surrender what you got on you. One way or another, we're going to get our hands on something."
The audience and defendants were then taken to Niagara City jail, where they were searched and packed into crowded cells. Fourteen people who could not post bail were later shackled and transported to another prison.
It was only later in the afternoon, when reporters began to ask questions about the ruling, that Judge Restaino ordered their release. The commission on judicial conduct said Judge Restaino had acted "without any semblance of a lawful basis" and behaved like a "petty tyrant". The judge has said he was under stress in his personal life at the time. He has 30 days to appeal the decision.
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