Miss. judge jails attorney for not reciting pledge

Miss. judge jails attorney for not reciting pledge

www.clarionledger.com

TUPELO — A Mississippi judge ordered an attorney to spend several hours in jail Wednesday after the attorney chose not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in court.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that Chancery Judge Talmadge Littlejohn told a court audience to rise and say the pledge. People in the courtroom said Danny Lampley of Oxford stood but did not say the words.

Records show Lampley was booked into the Lee County jail at 9:40 a.m. and released about 2:30 p.m. on the judge's orders.

Lampley did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press. Littlejohn

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Since when is it a crime to not recite the pledge of allegiance? And is it mandatory to do whatever a judge says despite the obvious infringements upon the people's rights who were in that court room? Judge probably spent too much time playing "Simon Says" with his kids before coming to work that morning and expected to be obeyed because he sits in a high chair and bangs on the table like babies do with their eating utensils during supper time.

www.clarionledger.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I THINK (I'm not sure) that any instructions from the bench are to be obeyed by all present in the courtroom. I believe I would be jailed, too, because I don't do shows of patriotism. But that might be what's behind this story.

Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority.

en.wikipedia.org...

A power struggle, it seems...

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I believe you are correct, but that bugs me. What if a judge told the attorney to quack like a duck, or to give his closing arguments with a finger up his nose? This should be reserved for those actually breaking protocol or rules, not to enforce an agenda or settle a grudge.

I agree completely! I don't think a judge should be on such a power trip that he jails someone for personal expression, unless, of course, he interrupts the proceedings and actually commits contempt of court. As I said, I'd be in jail, too. It's like a cop throwing his weight around. It's taking advantage of the position.

The judge was way wrong, in my opinion, but he has the legal support to do what he did, unfortunately.

reply to post by ninthaxis


Good for him. I like how this guy stood up for his beliefs even under pressure!!!
I am a Veteran of the US military. I am completely ok with this guy using his rights, which I put my life on the line for.

I personally would have said the pledge but just changed the words around. Instead of pledging to America I would have changed the words to " I pledge allegiance to the people of this world......."

I am seriously afraid for humanity's future when we must pledge segregation. We are all humans on planet Earth. We are all brothers. We should be thinking and acting this truth out. Sure, there are bad guys out there we must defend ourselves from but that is beside the point. We CANNOT keep thinking that we as Americans are better or worse than anyone else in any country.

If I learned anything in my time traveling around in the military it is this: people are people. We are all very similar to eachother. In the grand scheme we are all the same. The only difference is the amount of conditioning we have had from our governments, religions, and cultures. Erase those things which are all temporary anyway and we are all just neighbors.

Think about it.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I agree completely! I don't think a judge should be on such a power trip that he jails someone for personal expression, unless, of course, he interrupts the proceedings and actually commits contempt of court. As I said, I'd be in jail, too.

It's like a cop throwing his weight around. It's taking advantage of the position.

The judge was way wrong, in my opinion, but he has the legal support to do what he did, unfortunately.

Very well said, couldn't have said it better myself.

It is your right not to say the pledge. Its people like that judge that are messing everything up.

It really bothers me that so few people seem to have a problem with this. Why isn't the judge being rioted against, harrassed by the media or whatever? Why aren't his peers speaking out against his indiscretion?

The judge will get away with it because he is a Democrat.


I don't see what the big deal is?

Originally posted by Carseller4
The judge will get away with it because he is a Democrat.


I don't see what the big deal is?

edit on 7-10-2010 by Carseller4 because: (no reason given)

Its people who hold the same belief as you that are really whats wrong here. Letting a rogue individual trample on an individuals rights to speech and expression and saying no big deal is assinine. I am getting sick of the sheeple who join a conspiracy board because it makes them feel like a rebel when they can't even stand up for their rights in a message board. I can imagine the kind of push over people like you are in real life.