As reported by the WSJ Law Blog, there is something seriously wrong with criminal defense lawyer Carlos D. Romious. Romious, with at least one if not several screws loose, went on a tear against Greene County Missouri Judge Tom Mountjoy and bought himself a 120 day sentence for contempt.  Mountjoy was either being kind or blew it completely.  Which one is unclear.

Here’s a partial litany of Romious’ conduct:

Romious “loudly and rudely” asked Judge Mountjoy “if the ‘proceeding was a joke’ and stated to the Court ‘you’re going to sit your a** up there.’ “

Romious accused Judge Mountjoy of “corrupting and stinking up the case” and “corrupting this system.”

When Judge Mountjoy ordered the attorney to appear in court at 8 a.m. on June 18, Romious said “don’t hold your breath.” When Romious did show up on June 18, he at one point asked the judge, “Are you a pedophile?”

The judgment also references an instance where Romious wadded up papers and smashed them with his shoe after taking the documents from his opposing counsel.

The fraud trial was scheduled to start on June 19, but Romious did not show up to court. The AP reports that Court records indicate Romious was scheduled to appear as a defendant in a Kansas federal court that day on a charge of assaulting a court security officer. That charge reportedly stemmed from a May incident in which Romious allegedly assaulted a court security officer after he refused to pass through a metal detector in a courthouse in Kansas City.

The first question this begs is whether Romious was psychologically competent.  This smells of a psychotic episode, since it’s almost impossible to think that any lawyer would engage in this sort of conduct otherwise.  The assault on the court officer, aside from the issue with Judge Mountjoy, certainly add fuel to the fire.

Lacking any qualifications to diagnosis Romious, let’s take this story from the position that he was sane.  The man is an idiot.  It doesn’t matter how outrageous he felt Judge Mountjoy may have been, or how frustrated he was with the criminal justice system.  You don’t behave this way.  You don’t accomplish anything by behaving this way.  You get nowhere.  And when your role is to represent another human being, you do not have the right to indulge one’s personal fantasies of rage against the system on the defendant’s back. 

But if we are to view Romious’ behavior as an indication that this is a seriously unstable individual, then what is he doing practicing law in this condition?  Rather than being held in contempt, he should be held for a psych evaluation. 

While the WSJ categorized this story under “lawyers behaving badly,” I think they’ve missed the boat.  This lawyer either suffers from a psychological infirmity or is shockingly incompetent.  Psychosis seems the most likely, because the alternative is just too far beyond the pale to accept.   And if Romious’ conduct was the result of psychosis, then the solution isn’t contempt but treatment.

Even defense lawyers can go nuts.  Maybe even more so than others.

And now, because it fits, and because I like it…