October 25, 2006
From on-the-scene reports it appears that a wild scene took place in the Miami courtroom of Judge Ronald Friedman this afternoon.A reliable source has told GamePolitics that Judge Friedman did not hear Take-Two's contempt motion. Instead, Friedman recused himself, explaining that he was filing a complaint against Thompson with the Florida Bar.
Over at Destructoid, Niero has provided additional details in another excellent "man-on-the-scene" report. Included in the juicy details: four police officers were summoned to keep the peace at one point. Niero has some video to upload. Look for it later today.
The contempt issue will be reassigned to another judge.
Comments
The judge should have stuck to his guns. Given past history, I have the feeling the Florida Bar Complaint will be swept under the rug and forgotten. Unless another judge can be found in short order that has some knowledge of JT's abuses, he might get away once again. :(
Take 2 and Blank-Rome should aggressively pursue this case and not back down. It's high time JT was put in his place and made accountable for his actions. It's now or never. I'm hoping that if found in contempt, it'll open the floodgates for all sorts of legal actions against him, including my own class-action (which I'll have some news on in a few days. Hopefully if he's adequately punished, it might not be necessary.)
On another note: 4 police officers and a posterboard sign? I guess everyone knows now who the real "public nuisance" is, don't they? ;)
OK, that's idiotic.
I've been playing with a Jack Thompson CAW in my copy of SmackDown vs. RAW 2006 CAW for months now and he's no more "in" that game than he is "in" Mortal Kombat Armageddon.
So this could be going on for years and years and years...
http://www.destructoid.com/jack-vs-midway-over-mortal-kombat-armageddon-...
Mr. Thompson, you have officially phailed.
I'm not surprised. By reclusing himself, Judge Friedman usurps JT's claim that this is all about the appeal attempt and/or "punishing" him for running for Friedman's seat in '08. The next judge will preside over what this was really about, JT's behavior during and after the judge made his ruling.
The next judge can still rule on the contempt complaint. Reclusing doesn't mean the contempt motion is denied, just that Friedman doesn't feel he can rule on it himself considering the circumstances.
Besides, if the other judge rules against JT, he can't claim it was because of any personal interest (beyond the usual "bar protecting it's own").
Seriously, this is for the best. Just because the judge has recused himself doesn't mean the the contempt hearing won't go forward. It'll just be in front of a different judge. If a case or motion is honestly being judged on merits, then the judge shouldn't matter much.
So the upshot is that he may still be found in contempt, now has another Bar complaint to deal with, and still hasn't successfully prosecuted any of his anti-gaming cases.
You win a cookie. :)
I'm not entirely sure, but I think a successfull conviction in court also automatically generates a Bar investigation of it's own (since the Bar requires that lawyer be held to a certain standard of behavior, obviously being held in contempt means you weren't behaving yourself). Anyone read up on this in the Florida Bar rules?
After reading Destructoid's coverage, I have to think that Laddy Jack did himself no favours today. Whoever gets this case is going to know about the cops and the sign, not to mention the giant slingshot from previous hearings. They're going to know about his comments and misrepresentations about Friedman, and the fact that Jack basically bullied him off the case.
None of those things really scream respectful, professional attorney to me. The more I think about it, the more I see a hefty fine coming down. I really down think jail time is in the offing though. It's even worse when you consider that this is just the Bully case. He really seems to be going downhill.
This man has given up on his legal career and just turned himself into a martyr.
He just won. He knows he has no legal stamina left. No court takes him seriously. Ever. But legislatures do. Even if he gets disbarred, he's found himself a way to remain in the spotlight presumably for the rest of his life.
I think I take it all back. He's a freaking genius.
I weep.
I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I believe it may depend on the type of contempt and how it is tried. I believe this would qualify as civil contempt, rather than criminal.* If that's the case, then Laddy Jack can appeal. If it is criminal contempt, however, then there is no appeal (there's also a higher burden of proof, like all criminal versus civil matters).
If Jack goes off his nut in the courtroom, it might qualify as criminal contempt.
*nb. I based this off my reading of a Wikipedia article that only delineates the difference between criminal and civil contempt in the British system. What Jack is accused of even seems to be a grey area in that context. The the appeal recourses listed are American.
Jack no longer has the backing of Clinton. If you remember, she attended a dinner hosted by Doug Lowenstein, which caused ol' JT to turn on her and call her a "Benedict Arnold." None of the congressmen and senators care about what he does for that matter. And as far as I know, none of them wanted anything to do with him, not even Lieberman.
Jack is about to lose his last shred of credibility, so if anything, politicians will be even less likely to consider him a reliable source on anything.
The only thing I could probably see him doing if he loses his license his become a minister or something and tour churches decrying the "evils" of video games. He'll become another book-burning bible-thumper, which is almost as bad, but he'll be one of hundreds that routinely get ignored. And at least he won't the authority of law behind him, so he won't be able to abuse his position as a lawyer to file suits or otherwise threaten or harrass anyone he doesn't like.
Like many others have pointed out, having another Judge preside over this case is probably for the best. This way no one, not even Jacky, can claim the decision was based on personal gain. He can't say that Friedman was trying to get him disbarred so that he can't challenge him in the '08 election, you can't be a Judge if you aren't a lawyer. Therefore there's no way the Judge will find him innocent just to not be seen as biased (like I kinda feared Friedman might do IF he presided over the case).
As far as him appealing the decision: I wouldn't worry about it anyway. Even if he can appeal, he'd still be unable to practice law. He might even have to hire a lawyer in order to appeal it, but I don't know for sure, this isn't really an area I'm well versed in.
@Bluegus
So what if he has the ear of people in power? They aren't likely to continue to listen to him, or at least not cite him. Listening to a guy that was disbarred, censured, fined, sued (GO BLACK MANTA!), and even jailed won't go over well with other politicians or voters. I can already see the smear campaign ads: "You listened to a complete ass! He was a lawyer, but had so many complaints against him, he lost his license to practice it and, now, no state's bar will give him one." Hell, I'd bet $1000 that Hillary drops him and starts criticizing him within a day of him losing his license. She may still coninue her anti-game agenda, but it will be excecuted in a different manner.
Here's hoping it all goes well. For us.
Jack Thompson isn't evil (er, more evil than normal humans anyway) so his logic is simply setting him at odds with reality. I don't wan't vengeance and the complaint is a sort of nudge that might allow him to take a step back and figure things out. This is the difference between martyrdom and honest concern, so any hopes in attaining JT as an ally are actually are actually raised here (assuming a moderate stance is the best case scenario). The anti-game movement needs martyrs to give it legitamacy and Jack was almost their meal ticket.
Babus
OT, put about 10 hours into Bully so far and loved every minute.
1. Howard Stern's people, possibly harrassment.
2. Judge Moore in Strickland vs. Sony, courtroom antics and violating gag orders.
3. Blank Rome, going to non-Take Two clients and trying to make said clients drop Blank Rome, and not always using the truth to do so.
4. Here, courtroom antics and violating gag orders.
You'll also notice that the deadline for the ESRB to re-rate Bully as M "or else" has now passed... and nothing has happened.
odds are it had a pointed remark towards the judges ruling on the Bully case
this fits Thompsons MO perfectly, it seems he always trys to infuriate the judge when he seems to be losing so that he may apeal any decision judge makes based on the judge being biased against him
above mine just spam?
Also, I doubt a change in judge will save Thompson from
some kind of action against him, even if its just a fine.
Im sure the lawyers he faces have many documents of
his actions, or perhaps just a link here :P
-Twixn-
Anyways, what the hell good would a complaint to the Florida Bar do? Does it even do anything that any of us know about like fines, warnings, or what?
It's good to see the judge still hand the contempt charge to another judge, not only to keep the judge himself from looking bias but also to take the case to a judge JT might not know how to outdo (not that he could do that anyways).
But let me ask you all something. Who would trust him with those evil looking eyes, wrinkled face, and that sagging, dimpled grin with those big Bugs Bunny, yellow and green, shrine-of-butter horse teeth of his? That is the face of a corrupt ambulance chaser, money grubber, and altogether lowest pond scum of the law professionl. I wouldn't trust him even if somebody paid me.
I hope he goes to jail in the case with the next judge and stays there for a while for all the shit he's pulled or tried to pull.
-Absolutely is comment spam. We get an ENORMOUS amount.... but these insidious types can slip past. I've IP-blocked 'em.... Thx for pointing out
All is forgiven since you're not providing us with videos of DOA2X or something, we're talking about a grown man acting like a child, holding up a sign, police being summoned...It's like Jerry Springer for goodness sake!
Hrm, anyone happen to know how many of those Bar complaints you need to get disbarred? I mean, its not the first time someone's complained about Jack being all over the place.
It looks like JT's silly posterboard sign had the legal definition of "contempt of court" on it, as far as I can tell. The fact that he felt the need to bring that with him is a little mind-boggling to me, but so is most everything else he does.
Looking forward to part two on Friday!
The other part I couldn't help but wonder at, is how Jack was fidgetting like a 4 year old in church. I'd have thought a a fifty somthing lawyer would have learned how to at least sit still in court.
Anyways, it was a real circus in there as JT tried to act less mature than he should have in his profession. What a dumbass.
Can't wait for part 2 of the video!
I'll be sure to send all this information to my friends. They would thoroughly enjoy it.
Jeez...I knew a kid that acted like that in high school (without the legal speak), he'd just walk over to computers that had been off for the whole day, in a room that was only supposed to be used for a club activity (that had nothing to do with computers), turn one on, and start messing around with it (like, the settings specifically). The best part was that he acted like a little brat when the club super told him not to touch them (I swear he actually said "you're not my mom!").
Gee, I wonder why.