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Man Faces 6 Months In Jail For Yawning
Judge Finds 33-Year-Old In Contempt

Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Updated: 9:41 pm CDT August 11, 2009

AP Photo/Will County Sheriff
Joliet, Ill. -- Drowsy spectators in one suburban Chicago courtroom might want to stifle their yawns from now on.

Clifton Williams, 33, of Richton Park, is facing six months in jail for making what court documents call a yawn-like sound in Will County Judge Daniel Rozak's court last month. The yawn happened as Williams' cousin, Jason Mayfield, was being sentenced for a drug charge on July 23.

Rozak found Williams in contempt of court and sentenced him to six months in jail. However, Rozak could free Williams after a status hearing Thursday, if Williams apologizes and the judge accepts. By then, Williams will have served 21 days.

Witnesses disagree about whether Williams' yawn was out of line.

Charles Pelkie, spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office, said the prosecutor in the courtroom at the time told him that what came out of Williams' mouth could hardly be called a "yawn."

"This was a very loud, boisterous, deliberate attempt on the part of this individual to disrupt the proceedings and show disrespect to the court," Pelkie said. "It was not a guy who involuntarily yawned. This guy was making a statement -- a very loud statement -- in court."

Mayfield disagreed, saying it was "not an outrageous yawn." Williams has written his family to say that he can't believe he's in jail "for nothing."

A message left for Rozak Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Six months is the maximum sentence judges can give for criminal contempt without a jury trial.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

:rofl:

This world is so ****ing stupid. Meanwhile rapists, child abusers, and extortionists are out and about.

I hope Clifton will use his time in jail to do some growing up!

Deal drugs, get probation. Yawn and get 6 months? Sounds too stupid to be true.

This world is so ****ing stupid. Meanwhile rapists, child abusers, and extortionists are out and about.
No kidding.

Deal drugs, get probation. Yawn and get 6 months? Sounds too stupid to be true.

...only in suburban Chicago does stuff like this ever happen. :mad: :o

One time I was covering a civil status call in DuPage County (another suburban Chicago mess) and I saw a judge actually kick a lawyer out of a courtroom (and ream the attorney out a new a**hole in the process) for not exactly, shall we say, taking a ruling the judge made against said attorney too well.

You can get away with (comparatively) all kinds of crap in Cook County, but not in the collar counties (including Will and DuPage) - lighter caseloads (on both the civil and criminal sides) allow for more strictness and attention to decorum.

Gee, I wonder what the judge would have done if Williams had picked his nose instead of yawning. :crazy:

Gee, I wonder what the judge would have done if Williams had picked his nose instead of yawning. :crazy:

:rofl: Good one!
It probably would've gotten him life!:lol:

Gee, I wonder what the judge would have done if Williams had picked his nose instead of yawning. :crazy:
:lol:

Oh how stupid, of all the things to throw someone in jail. Yet we have child molesters, rapists and whatnot out there committing crimes and they want to jail someone for this?!?! :rolleyes:

That judge should be thrown off the bench

Talk about the punishment NOT fitting the crime. If it wasn't a yawn but a deliberate attempt to disrupt the court than a REALLY GOOD CHEWING OUT a la Judge Judy would have done the trick. But no $ or jail time imho.

This man should be with his family, not a jail cell for yawning. Jail is for criminals. This man is not a criminal.

This Judge sucks.

Just one more example of our wonderful government at work!! :rolleyes:

The judge sound a bit ippie in the kaboodle, if you catch my drift.

Six months, thats too extreme. What ever happened to fines???

This is absolutely ridiculous! Let's save our jail cells for the real criminals. This judge needs to be removed from the bench immediately.

Well, let's not be so quick to condemn this judge.
Could be that the judge thought that the guy was doing in the animal work what is known as "aggressive yawning". A baboon, for instance, will yawn as an aggressive gesture and the other baboons know this. So maybe the judge was just doing some "defensive sentencing" because he detected a threat.




What I'm saying is that the judge is, well, ...a baboon.;)

Six months, thats too extreme. What ever happened to fines???
Yeah, I could see a fine, but what a waste of taxpayers money to throw the guy in jail! He wasn't even on trial! I'd hate to see what rolling your eyes would cost you! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I think that the moral of the story is that if you ever find yourself in a courtroom you'd better treat the Judge and the court with respect.

I'd hate to see what rolling your eyes would cost you! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

You just bought yourself 25 years in the slammer there, missy!

:D

That's stupid.

You just bought yourself 25 years in the slammer there, missy!

:D

with hard labor - no TV or internet

Why are you taking the Judge's side of this? It was a yawn, nothing
more, nothing less.
Actually if you read the original story it wasn't just a yawn. It was a deliberate attempt on this guy's part to disrupt proceedings. To me that shows a lack of respect to the court and to the judge.

i heard they released him after three weeks.

i heard they released him after three weeks.
Yeah, I saw that on the local news the other day.

what an stupid act that was,i think they all are illitrate and just doing what they want