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Fla. Judge Fired After Jailing Traffic Defendants

Talk about intemperate, this may take the cake.

A judge who jailed 11 people because they were late for traffic court after being directed to the wrong courtroom lost his job Thursday, as the state Supreme Court ruled he was unfit to remain on the bench.

In a unanimous decision, the court said the jailing and strip-searching of the 11 motorists capped a series of conduct complaints against Seminole County Judge John Sloop, 57.

"Judge Sloop's indifference to the anxiety, humiliation and hardship imposed upon these 11 citizens reflects a callous disregard for others that is among the most egregious examples we have seen of abuse of judicial authority and lack of proper judicial temperament," the high court wrote in an unsigned opinion.

The 11 had gone to court on citations ranging from driving with a suspended license to having an illegal tag. Sloop jailed the misdirected motorists although two other judges and a bailiff had told him they were not to blame.

Judge Sloop understands what he did wrong, and blames it on attention deficit disorder.

Sloop admitted he violated judicial canons. He blamed his behavior on undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and said he has since received treatment.

He expressed no bitterness over his removal, saying he joined the justices in hoping his removal would help restore public confidence in the judicial system.

"I spent my life helping people understand they are responsible for their actions," Sloop said. "I am responsible for the grievous things that I did."

Maybe they should have a temperance test for judicial nominees. Except, I suspect, most judicial nominees would pass because the intemperance and bad judgment likely develops only after extensive exposure to the reality of life in the trenches of the courtroom.

A more effective test would be a Survivor-type challenge where the newbie judges are thrown into the trenches of war and graded on how they endured. Criminal courts are no different than war trenches. From our perspective, the prosecutor often is the enemy with the most power, the defense counsel is the good guy, trying to make sure the prosecutor doesn't unilaterally decide to abuse his power, and the Judge is there as a referee. When the judge wigs out, you can bet there is some serious flaw in the system.

Added: Yes, this is hyperbole.

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    It certainly wasn't Detention Deficit Disorder (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by David at Kmareka on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 08:40:24 AM EST
    Gee, I guess that it's become passé to blame alcohol abuse for one's immoderate behavior.  At least with ADHD, the judge didn't have to spend a month in rehab.  I must say, though, as a therapist, I have never heard of ADHD leading one to lose all judgment and behave like an ass.  More likely, t'was not a deficit of attention but of patience and decency.  Thank goodness smarter heads prevailed in the end.

    Middle initial? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Domino on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 03:46:05 AM EST
    If his middle initial is B., then he must have some coolness about him.

    Sloop, John B.

    um, i don't think so (none / 0) (#2)
    by cpinva on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 07:57:15 AM EST
    Criminal courts are no different than war trenches.

    last time i was in a courtroom, i wasn't being shot at. frankly, i get a little tired of these cliche' "war" analogies applied to everything from games to corporate boardroom shenanigans. it's an insult to those who have been in real wars

    unless you've been shot at, in anger (i have been, though fortunately not in a war zone), you don't have a clue. yeah, i know, it happens in court occasionally, but it's an aberration, not the norm.

    so stop it.

    sounds to me like this guy just reached his level of incompetence, ADHD had nothing to do with it. had that actually been the case, it would have manifested itself early on. he was just being a self-righteous jerk.

    Irony is dead (none / 0) (#3)
    by scarshapedstar on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 08:39:03 AM EST
    And so is metaphor, evidently. Just took five years longer. I imagine we'll reach a point where using phrases like "soldiering on" warrants a stern lecture on what it's like to carry a 75 pound backpack, and calling a kid with a soccer injury a "good little trooper" is grounds for some dude with a thousand-yard stare murmuring about his buddy who died on a grenade. Even if he'd never been to war!

    Parent
    What would be even better (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 08:42:50 AM EST
    Is if we reached a point where any telling of a lawyer joke would result with angry stares and somebody pointing out that lawyers save innocent people from execution and if you make fun of them then you want innocent people to die and must hate God and Jesus and the Bible.

    Parent
    I would settle (none / 0) (#7)
    by sparky on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 09:34:20 AM EST
    For lawyers (or anyone else, for that matter) who would mind (or mine) the difference between metaphor and hyperbole.

    Parent
    what would be even better (none / 0) (#11)
    by cpinva on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 04:16:46 PM EST
    is if you could tell the difference between legitimate analogy, and overwrought hyperbole.

    Parent
    Hyper-Tyranny Disorder (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 08:59:29 AM EST
    I hope he now realizes he was holding traffic court, not a King's court.  

    I guess it's a matter of perspective (none / 0) (#8)
    by Patrick on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 09:47:25 AM EST
    Criminal courts are no different than war trenches. The prosecutor is the enemy with the most power, the defense counsel is the good guy, trying to make sure the prosecutor doesn't unilaterally decide to abuse his power, and the Judge is there as a referee.


    adhd? (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jen M on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 09:49:24 AM EST
    so, when do the appeals start?

    Give the guy a break (none / 0) (#10)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 09:53:14 AM EST
    He was abused by a priest, er, I mean he has a drinking problem, er, I mean he...

    The record is skipping again.

    Funny, (none / 0) (#12)
    by roger on Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 04:57:08 PM EST
    Sloop was always good to me, but I did see a lot of harsh sentences given out in his courtroom.

    Irony is, ADHD is an excuse that would have sent him into orbit, if given by a defendant.