WTF: Judge throws a party for the convicted

[AFB]

Dallas judge throws party as she sends man to prison for life for assaulting girlfriend

By Lisa Falkenberg
ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:25 p.m. October 26, 2004

DALLAS ? A judge welcomed a former fugitive back to her courtroom with balloons, streamers and a cake before sentencing him to life in prison.

"You just made my day when I heard you had finally come home," Judge Faith Johnson told Billy Wayne Williams, who had been convicted in absentia of aggravated assault after he disappeared a year ago. "We're so excited to see you, we're throwing a party for you."

Williams, 53, who has a criminal record dating to the 1980s, was accused of choking his girlfriend until she passed out. He failed to appear for his trial last November and was captured Thursday at a gas station in suburban Arlington.

Before he was brought into the courtroom on Monday, the judge directed staff members as they placed balloons and streamers around the courtroom. A colorful cake was decorated with his name and one candle to signify the year he spent on the lam.

"It seems like everyone wants to have a party, and it's fun for you people, but not for me," Williams told reporters as he was led away in handcuffs.

Seana Willing, executive director of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, said she found the incident troubling. "It's the kind of thing I look at and scratch my head and wonder, 'What was she thinking?'" Willing said.

She questioned whether the party violated standards of decorum and impartiality.

"The whole purpose of it was to mock him, to make him feel bad. I guess she could have put him in the stockade, in the pillory, in front of the town square and let people mock him," Willing said.

She said Johnson had never been disciplined by the regulatory agency.

Calls to the judge's office were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Trent Touchstone, a supervisory deputy U.S. marshal, said Johnson took a special interest in Williams' case after he jumped bail that she had set following the 2002 assault.

"Put yourself in her position," Touchstone said. "She's going through a trial with a jury, with defense attorneys, with prosecutors and rolling along and one day the defendant decides not to show up, and everything comes to a screeching halt."

Trial in absentia? What is this, a third world country? Ohh and thanks for using the tax payer's money for throwing a party .

 

[etalns]

Life for assault??

 

[Anubis]

Trial in absentia - means they have the trial when the defendent is not present and convict him anyway

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Trial in absentia?

"Put yourself in her position," Touchstone said. "She's going through a trial with a jury, with defense attorneys, with prosecutors and rolling along and one day the defendant decides not to show up, and everything comes to a screeching halt."

plus, you have to get a trial in before all the evidence gets cold. witnesses die, move, etc.

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Trial in absentia?

"Put yourself in her position," Touchstone said. "She's going through a trial with a jury, with defense attorneys, with prosecutors and rolling along and one day the defendant decides not to show up, and everything comes to a screeching halt."

plus, you have to get a trial in before all the evidence gets cold. witnesses die, move, etc.

And the party..?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Anubis
Trial in absentia - means they have the trial when the defendent is not present and convict him anyway

I think he understood that and is implying that it is uncivilized to try someone when he is not there to defend himself.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Trial in absentia?

"Put yourself in her position," Touchstone said. "She's going through a trial with a jury, with defense attorneys, with prosecutors and rolling along and one day the defendant decides not to show up, and everything comes to a screeching halt."

plus, you have to get a trial in before all the evidence gets cold. witnesses die, move, etc.

And the party..?

did i quote anything about the party?


and in this case remember that the guy did jump bail.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Anubis
Trial in absentia - means they have the trial when the defendent is not present and convict him anyway

I think he understood that and is implying that it is uncivilized to try someone when he is not there to defend himself.

He's implying it but not saying why. I mean how can anyone think jumping bail is a lessor crime than being tried when you aren't there? His fault it happened!