14 DAY TRIAL // You’d think that after so many years working as a judge, 15 of which he even used to turn himself into a television personality thanks to a very successful CBS courtroom reality series, Judge Joe Brown would know better than to throw a huge tantrum in court.
Yet this is precisely what he did the other day, when he showed up in court, apparently in a bid to represent someone in a child support case and refused to leave when he was told he had no business there.
The 66-year-old star has been jailed and charged with several counts of contempt of court after nearly starting a riot by challenging the authority of the judge presiding the case by addressing himself directly to his audience, TMZ reports.
Again, comparisons to how some of the people who had been featured on Brown’s show for 15 years do spring to mind, because this seems like exactly the kind of drama that made for such fascinating, albeit mindless entertainment.
“Brown showed up to court Monday to represent someone in a child support case – but was turned away by court staff, who informed Brown they had no record of the case in question. Brown reportedly lost it, becoming verbally abusive and was warned several times to quiet down,” TMZ reports, citing sources from inside the courtroom.
Other reports online suggest that he had shown up to represent a mother who had been served with an arrest warrant. There is strong indication that the judge on the case had no idea who he is or what his connection to the case was, because it’d been a spur of the moment type of thing.
TMZ says that 66-year-old Brown “was playing to the peanut gallery” and “incited a near riot” by so doing. He repeatedly ignored the judge’s requests for silence and refused to leave when he was asked. He was charged with contempt of court and jailed for 5 days.
The same insiders claim that he eventually left on his own but “was screaming the entire time.” An audio recording from inside the courtroom has emerged online (and is embedded at the end of the article) but it doesn’t paint such a wild picture of the events as eyewitnesses’ accounts.
If anything, Judge Joe Brown seems very much in control, though obviously upset. Reports online make it sound as if he acted like a madman. As of this moment, he has refused any request for comment but, the moment he does come out with a statement with his own side of the story, rest assured you will find out about it here.