WHEN DOES A SIGH TURN TO JAIL TIME?

JUDGE

In November 2002, Mark Schulman was appearing in front of Family Court Judge Richard Lawrence on domestic abuse charges filed by his wife. During the procedings, Schulman was heard sighing loudly, turned his back to the judge several times to get something off the chair behind him and was fidgeting. When the judge ordered him to serve 5 day for contempt of court, Schulman protested to which Judge Lawrence raised the sentence to 10 days. When Schulman protested, he was handcuffed and sentenced to 12 days.

A judical review board has publicly admonished Judge Lawrence and said that he could have given Mr. Schulman a warning about his behavior before sentencing him for contempt.