Judges gone wild! Weird rulings that left mouths agape…
Kenyans roast magistrate over weird cash bail payment method
Next time you are arraigned and slapped with a huge bail, request to pay it in installments! After all in January this year, Milimani Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi made a stranger than fiction ruling that had Kenyans, including former CJ Willy Mutunga and DPP Nordin Haji seething in rage.The magistrate released of Embakasi East MP Babu Owino on a Sh 10 million shillings cash bail in a case in which he is accused of shooting Felix Orinda alias DJ Evolve at a city club. But that’s not all.
The cash bail is to be used to settle Orinda’s hospital bill and would be paid in three installments! Some more bizarre citations: The magistrate barred Babu from taking alcoholic drinks or narcotic drugs in public for the period the case will be on. Taking narcotics whether in private or public place is illegal, so, did the magistrate in-struct a suspect to break the law he is employed to enforce?
Traffic offender instructed to hold placard calling her idiot
Shena Hardin wasn’t the first person forced to hold up an embar-rassing sign, walk around with livestock, or gallivant in crazy costumes in public. Her “idiot” sentence for a traffic offence was unconventional, but her case probably won’t be the last. In fact, such punishments are becoming more popular across the country. Hardin, 32, was ordered to stand on a cor-ner during rush hour for two days while holding a sign that labelled her as an “idiot.” After Hardin pleaded guilty to failing to stop for a school bus, Cleveland Municipal Judge Pinkey Carr ordered her to create the sign that read, “Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus
Teens told to walk around city with donkey and apology note
Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael A Cicconetti is known for his unusual sentences. In 2003, two Fairport Harbor teens stole and defaced a statue of the baby Jesus that was part of a church’s Christmas Eve nativity scene. Judge Cicconetti ordered them to march through the village with a donkey and a apology sign stating, “Sorry for the jackassoffense.” Jessica Lange and Brian Patrick, both 19 years old, must also replace the statue, complete drug and alcohol counselling, and serve 45 days in jail.
Woman ordered to walk 48km for not paying taxi fare
An American judge known for doling out unusual punishments to petty criminals ordered a woman to walk 30 miles (48km), the distance of the taxi journey that she didn’t pay for that land-ed her in court in the first place. Judge Michael A Cicconetti gave the bizarre punishment to Victoria Bascom in a judge-ment last year. Prosecutors said Bascom called a taxi to take her the 30 miles from Cleveland to Painesville, having been out at a bar with friends. She told the judge that she got out of the cab with another woman once they reached their destination.She said that the other two passengers said they would pay for the taxi, but when they couldn’t, the taxi driver came to her door, with the police arriv-ing shortly after. The judge gave her a choice - either spend 60 days in Lake County jail, or walk the distance of the taxi journey she bailed on, within 48 hours. The judge said he would use a GPS device to monitor Bascom’s movements, to make sure that she walked the full 30 miles.
What of traffic offenders ordered to pick cotton for a week?
People who commit traffic of-fences in Uzbekistan are forced to pick cotton for a week to get their licences back. They join college students, teachers, and business-men who are “encouraged” to take to the fields during the month-long harvest. Also, it’s said that shops and cafes in the region must remain closed until 7 PM “to dis-courage people from shopping and entertainment during the cotton harvest.” International pressure has been increasing, forcing the central Asian country to reduce its reliance on child labour and find cheap or free alternatives
Judge orders woman to spend five Christmases in jail
An Ohio judge makes offenders go to jail once a year on Christmas or their birthday. In one ruling, he ordered that Betina Young, who was convicted of a driver’s licence scam involving illegal immigrants, spend the next five Christmases in jail. For only the three days surrounding December 25th, for the next five years, she will be incarcerated. When Young isn’t missing Christmas din-ner because she’s in prison, she’ll be on probation, and if she misses her jail time or violates that probation, she faces 15 years in jail.
