I get the annoyance that judges have with cell phones. When they ring in the middle of a hearing, it’s disruptive. There is a Fort Wayne Journal Gazette article on a Fort Wayne attorney who forgot to leave his cell phone behind and apparently stashed the phone under a security desk instead of taking it back to his car. Or that’s my take on it, the article says:
Bloom slipped the phone under the security desk and abandoned it when security officers told him it couldn’t remain there, according to court documents.
Attorneys at the Allen County are apparently allowed to bring cell phones into the court house, but only if they have a county issued ID, which this attorney didn’t have.
He petitioned to have the phone back, but the judge, in an order, said:
should she give Bloom his phone back, it would be “patently unfair†to the others who had had their property confiscated and destroyed and would be unfair to attorneys who had already complied with the January 2007 court order banning phones, according to court documents.
I guess rules are rules, but in this case, it seems that there is an unbecoming slavishness to bureaucracy at work. They have the phone, he wants the phone, they’re going to destroy it rather than give it back, despite the fact that he jumped through a number of hoops to get it. The effort expended by the attorney pretty much assure that nobody’s going to go this route as a back-door way to store their phone at the security desk rather than leave it behind.
The Journal Gazette has an editorial urging reconsideration of how the ban is implemented.
A small fine would seem more appropriate.
Too bad this judge wasn’t around when you had your “summary judgment” episode.
Attorney Sam Bolinger had started a business of a cell phone storage cart outside of the Allen County Courthouse. I believe the endeavor went belly-up after a few months.
Only in our society would you destroy a useful item. I agree with MartyL that a fine would be appropriate. If they really can’t swallow that, then donate the item to a women’s shelter, or whatever.
I wonder if they recycle, at least.
They could put it in the hall in an unmarked package and wait for someone to notice…
The stated reason behind the ban wasn’t annoyed judges (although I can imagine that would be annoying) but concern about people using their phones to take pictures of witnesses and jurors during criminal cases.