The Associated Press is reporting that Judge Peter McDermott ordered court officials to cover an "unruly defendant's" mouth with duct tape during a probation violation hearing."During the hearing, [the defendant] made repeated outbursts and ignored the judge's orders to refrain from interrupting the court. The judge then ordered bailiffs to silence [the defendant]. The Idaho State Journal reports that bailiffs found a roll of duct tape, tore off a piece and put it over his mouth."
The judge then ordered the defendant be placed in the custody of the Department of Correction mental health facility.
If the guy's mentally ill, is it still a good idea to duct tape his mouth shut? (Rumor has it that the defendant had been previously committed to State Hospital South and his PD was trying to get the judge to order an evaluation when the "outburst" occurred.) Does this have anything to do with the Judge's recently announced retirement? Maybe he's been wanting to do this for 20 years and saw this as his last chance. Now, I've occasionally wanted to tape my client's mouth shut too, but for different reasons and I've never actually done it! Does the Idaho Judicial Council read the Idaho State Journal?
Here is an article reporting more specifics on what happened during this hearing. http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2009/04/21/news/local/1.txt#blogcomments
ReplyDeleteIs this really an appropriate method of dealing with delusional and mentally ill people? Is this how we expect judges to act? Perhaps I'm too liberal, but when I think of a 'judicial temperment' I picture someone more creative and compassionate than Nurse Ratched.
McDermott was always a little too "old west" justice. having represented the defendant, his development into what appears to be a schizophrenia-like disorder is not surprising, but is saddening. backward rural Idaho can't handle it. perhaps [LINK]http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/24/schizophrenia.soloist.brain/index.html?eref=rss_topstories [/LINK] and the soloist movie may be a wakeup call, perhaps not - this is a bad economy for compassion
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that we should expect much more from Judge Pete. Guess he won't get that courthouse named after him. Or will he?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the problem is here. The judge didn't close off all his airways, he just targeted the problem. The "mentally challenged" generally aren't CAPABLE of shutting up when told to, so the judge helped him out. Would you have preferred that the judge have ordered chemical sedation for him to be able to be quiet and orderly in the court?
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