Ensure mobiles are switched off... or face jail time

A JUDGE who jailed 46 people who were in his courtroom when a mobile phone call interrupted proceedings has been removed from the bench by a state commission.

Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert Restaino “snapped” and “engaged in what can only be described as two hours of inexplicable madness” during the March 2005 session, Raoul Felder, chairman of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, wrote in the decision to remove Restaino from the $113,900 (€77,000) per year post.

A phone rang while Mr Restaino was hearing the cases of domestic violence offenders who had been ordered to appear weekly to update him on the progress of their counselling. A sign in the courthouse warns that phones and pagers must be turned off. Security officers attempted to find the phone but failed.

“Everyone is going to jail,” said Mr Restaino.

“Every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now. If anybody believes I’m kidding, ask some of the folks that have been here for a while. You are all going.”

When nobody came forward, Mr Restaino ordered the group into custody, and they were taken to jail, where they were searched and packed into crowded cells.

Fourteen people who could not post bail were shackled and taken by bus to another jail. Mr Restaino ordered them released that afternoon.

A commission on judicial conduct said Mr Restaino had acted “without any semblance of a lawful basis” and behaved like a “petty tyrant”.

Mr Restaino told the state panel he had been under stress in his personal life. He has 30 days to appeal against the commission’s decision.