Only in America: The self-sentencing judge
A Michigan judge finds himself in contempt of court — and more in our collection of strange revelations about the nation


A Michigan judge found himself in contempt of court after his cellphone began talking during a trial's closing arguments. The phone began asking for voice-dialing commands, saying, "I can't understand you." The red-faced judge said he bumped the phone by accident, but found himself in contempt and imposed a $25 fine on himself. "If I cannot live by the rules that I enforce,’" he said, "then I have no business enforcing these rules."
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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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