Every once in a while, a defendant comes before the court on some minor offense, generally considered inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but so filled with anger that he’s just not going to stand there and take it.  These encounters invariably result in stupid outcomes, usually for the defendant.  But not always.

From Lowering the Bar, South River Municipal Court Judge Emery Toth met his match in cab driver Esmanuel Buldoni:

The defendant, a cab driver named Esmanuel Buldoni (a.k.a., oddly, “Luis Martinez”), had been charged with three traffic violations.  He was in prison at the time of his arraignment, possibly because he had failed to show up for a prior court date, and so the exchange took place over a video link to the courtroom.  After Buldoni pleaded not guilty, he and the judge got into a dispute over why exactly Buldoni was in prison at the time.  After a short exchange, Judge Toth ended the argument.  “I don’t want to have an Oprah Winfrey conversation with you,” he said.  “All right? . . . I’ll give you a trial date next week.  See you around.  Goodbye.”

Apparently, Mr. Buldoni’s salutation was less endearing.  He then flipped Toth the bird and made the sound lovingly referred to as a “raspberry”.  Certainly disrespectful on Buldoni’s part, and clearly not the way to persuade a judge to cut you a break, but similarly not so far out of the ordinary for a fellow in jail on three traffic violations that a bit of anger isn’t anticipated and something a judge could deftly handle.  Judge Toth, however, was not about to laugh it off.

Toth: Let me explain something to you. . . . I’m a street guy. I didn’t get offended when you gave me the old fist up in the air. That’s OK. I didn’t really care about that. But when you give me raspberries walking out and you give me some kind of disrespect like that, I’m just telling you that’s contempt in the face of the court. You’re going to jail. You’re going to stay there for another 30 days.

Defendant: Appreciate it.

Toth: No, OK, I’m giving you 40 days, 45 days. I told you don’t give me any attitude. You want to give me the (indiscernible [but possibly “the old fist up in the air”]) and you want to give me the lip. You want to disrespect …

Defendant: (Indiscernible)

Toth: Sixty days. Get out of here. Sixty days. Give him 60 days.

Defendant: No, give me 70.

Toth: Seventy-five.

There’s nothing better than a bidding war with a judge, which ultimately bought Buldoni 180 days for contempt.  On the one hand, one might surmise that Buldoni got what he asked for.  On the other, one might hope that a jailed cab driver wasn’t the measure of appropriate judicial temperament.  In other words, as offensive as an angry defendant might be, a judge is expected to keep himself out of the mud when challenged to a wrestling match.

The New Jersey Supreme Court was not impressed with Judge Toth’s handling of the situation, affirming the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct’s finding that he acted in an “undignified and sarcastic” manner.

Municipal Court Judge Emery Toth was reprimanded last month for violating the New Jersey Code of Judicial Conduct by “speaking disrespectfully and intemperately to a litigant” and for abusing his contempt power by throwing the litigant in jail after he responded.

While it’s hardly shocking that Judge Toth was offended by Buldoni’s contumacious conduct, the moral of the story is that one guy’s a judge and the other is an angry cab driver in jail for three traffic infractions.  Even when the latter behaves poorly, the former is expected to maintain the dignity of his position, especially since only one of the two has the power of contempt. 

The problem isn’t that Toth held Buldoni in contempt for his conduct, but that he threw the robe aside and rolled in the mud with Buldoni.  Contrary to popular belief, it’s just not the way judge’s are expected to behave.  Even in Jersey. Especially in Jersey.