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A US judge has been removed from the bench for jailing an entire courtroom audience after none of them admitted being responsible for a ringing phone.
Judge Robert Restaino was presiding over a domestic violence case in the city of Niagara Falls in March 2005.
A 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 against the commission's decision.
Full of jaw dropping moments.
Quote:
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, according to the commission.
"If anybody believes I'm kidding, ask some of the folks that have been here for a while. You are all going."
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.
It gets better.
Quote:
One defendant, according to the report, told the judge: "This is not fair to the rest of us."
"I know it isn't," Judge Restaino replied.
And better...
Quote:
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.
How bad must the person who's phone it was feel? It's like an exaggerated version of the teacher keeping everyone behind for 10 minutes if nobody admits pulling a prank.
Originally posted by ajw2255:
Just like being in school. Can i arrest my old teachers for being ***** and keeping everyone behind when one twat misbehaved?
Just what I thought. It's not ok when you're an adult, obviously.
The best news story ever 
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