Judge throws teen in jail for 30 days for giving him the finger.

[nuckin_futz]

If you ever find yourself in a Florida courtroom facing Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat, don't give him any lip — and certainly don't flip him the bird.

Penelope Soto, 18, who was arrested for drug possession, learned that Monday, when she irritated the judge with her insouciant attitude — flipping her hair, laughing derisively, dodging questions. Miffed, the judge slapped Soto with a $5,000 fine and bid her "bye-bye." Soto laughed and responded, "Adios," so he upped her fine to $10,000.

"Are you serious?" the teen asked. "I am serious. Adios," said the judge. Soto gave him the finger, at which point he sentenced her to 30 days in jail for contempt of court. And yes, he was serious.

http://youtu.be/nNSGNKfdouM

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Now she has 30 days to "come down" off the drugs and think about what an idiot she was.

If there's any justice in the world, Lindsay Lohan will commit her next violations of the law in his county.

[Everybody Hates Raymond]

He should have also forced her to go into rehab, starting day one of her sentence.

[Special Ed]

He should have also forced her to go into rehab, starting day one of her sentence.

[Primal Optimist]

I see and have to talk to these idiots a lot. People have no idea how serious life is outside a video game.

[King Heffy]

Overkill considering her age. I think some community service might have been more appropriate here.

[Erik Karlsson]

Awesome, too bad we couldn't see her reaction at the end.

[Mr. Ambien]

For anyone that wonders why both drug laws are ridiculous and US prisons/jails are too full, especially with criminals that shouldn't even be there, wonder no more..

All she did was say "Adios" and that was response to him condescendingly dismissing her, big whoop. Tack on $5,000 bail for that? Wow. Good job there judge in escalating a conflict.

Yeah lesson learned, don't screw with power tripping judges.

Doubling someone's bail for "Adios", then sending them to jail because you were an ass and they gave you the finger and told you to frack yourself.. what an embarrassment.

[Jägermeister]

I guess you could say she flipped him the "jail-bird".

[AllHailSmyl]

She would've been given a conditional sentence in Vancouver

[Bertuzzi Babe]

For anyone that wonders why both drug laws are ridiculous and US prisons/jails are too full, especially with criminals that shouldn't even be there, wonder no more..

All she did was say "Adios" and that was response to him condescendingly dismissing her, big whoop. Tack on $5,000 bail for that? Wow. Good job there judge in escalating a conflict.

Yeah lesson learned, don't screw with power tripping judges.

Doubling someone's bail for "Adios", then sending them to jail because you were an ass and they gave you the finger and told you to frack yourself.. what an embarrassment.

[Primal Optimist]

For anyone that wonders why both drug laws are ridiculous and US prisons/jails are too full, especially with criminals that shouldn't even be there, wonder no more..

All she did was say "Adios" and that was response to him condescendingly dismissing her, big whoop. Tack on $5,000 bail for that? Wow. Good job there judge in escalating a conflict.

Yeah lesson learned, don't screw with power tripping judges.

Doubling someone's bail for "Adios", then sending them to jail because you were an ass and they gave you the finger and told you to frack yourself.. what an embarrassment.

[Erik Karlsson]

a large part of me agrees with you, but the absolute power of judges is something you should know before your age 10...to still mess around like its a joke with one as your sitting there trying to get bail is something that deserves the book thrown at her for....just my opinion but i want to choke the ever living crud out of kids that flip me off....30 days in jail for doing it to a judge as he judges you is pretty light.

[Wetcoaster]

Agreed, you'd have to be pretty dumb/ignorant to act like that in front of a judge.

[Erik Karlsson]

it has been my experience that there are a lot of dumb/ignorant people roaming around.

[Lockout Casualty]

It's about attitude.......and obviously this mouthy teenager was not getting the message. She's old enough to know better and kudos to the judge for giving her something to think about while she sits in jail for 30 days. She should have just shut her face after the "Adios" with attitude. And it must have been with attitude as I seriously doubt the judge would have upped the fine otherwise. As stated in the article, this prime exhibit of teenagerhood was behaving badly all during her time in front of the judge.

Bravo, judge!! More judges need to be doing this!

[Wetcoaster]

So are we to pretend that her serving 30 days somehow benefits society? Makes us safer? Saves us money? What exactly does it accomplish? Why do you feel it's appropriate to up the fine for attitude?

More of the court's time was spent calling her back and "teaching her a lesson" than if the judge didn't care how kids wearing orange jumpsuits are behaving.

I agree with Zaibatsu here, a moronic justice system on display.

[Bertuzzi Babe]

So are we to pretend that her serving 30 days somehow benefits society? Makes us safer? Saves us money? What exactly does it accomplish? Why do you feel it's appropriate to up the fine for attitude?

More of the court's time was spent calling her back and "teaching her a lesson" than if the judge didn't care how kids wearing orange jumpsuits are behaving.

I agree with Zaibatsu here, a moronic justice system on display.

[Lockout Casualty]

it was not a fine - it was her bond. She is yet to have a trial as this was first appearance.

Judges have a right to control their in court process which they do by means of contempt proceedings and 30 days for criminal contempt is pure punishment and to teach her a lesson in how to conduct herself. It is not meant to be anything else. It looked to me like a lesson that needed to be taught.

[Lockout Casualty]

So you let three blatant episodes of disrespect to the court, to the judge and downright insolence just go by? Oh right, she's really learned something now, which is probably the problem to begin with, she'd been getting away with it for years. 18 is old enough to know better.......and now she has 30 days to sit in jail and think about it. And have a record. For something that was purely within her control to avoid. Suck it up princess, these consequences are a direct result of your own bad behavior. More people need to be made to accept the consequences of their behavior, then perhaps they wonn't be standing before a judge to begin with.

Benefit society? Maybe she'll think twice before being rude and disrespectful in a court of law. And learn the lesson that acting like a rude, disrespectful, spoiled, self-entitled little brat in court will land you in a jail cell for 30 days. A change in attitude is in order and this 30 day reminder of such is obviously what she needs or she wouldn't be sitting in a cell to start with.

[Wetcoaster]

I was addressing BB's statement, not the article's:

I'm not disputing the ability to do what the judge did, I am questioning the benefit of such powers. What is this more likely to achieve, respect for authority that punishes disproportionately (or fear, to be more precise) or a good future behavior by a borderline juvenile delinquent?