Disorderly Conduct Charges Over Behavior at a Courthouse

My question involves civil rights in the State of: Georgia

My husband went down to the city hall of a small town in North Georgia (we live about 2 hours away) requesting open records of an incident that had happened over the weekend. They were not being helpful, so my husband got a little mouthy and said "I can't wait to sue the **** out of your city" as he walked out the door. (He said that because we believe they conducted an illegal search of our vehicle and charged him with possession of something that did not exist). The chief of police called him and said he planned on charging him with disorderly conduct next time he sees him. Remember, he said this OVER THE PHONE. My husband showed up to his court date and during the roll call, he said he would like to talk to the solicitor about the charges of possession. A little while later,k the judge called a few cops up to the stand then called my husband. My husband said "I need to speak to the solicitor." Judge said "No, we're doing this now." He said they were binding the charges over to the state (would not even listen to evidence we found from dashcam footage and police reports) and asked what his problem was with the other charge, i.e. why did he curse like that. Husband asks "Am I on trial right now? I haven't even been charged with that" and the Chief says "I told you over the phone you would be charged" and then the judge proceeds to hand my husband the citation and says "I find you guilty of disorderly conduct" and husband says "this is a kangaroo court" and was promptly charged again and taken to jail. So in a span of about 90 seconds, he was literally charged, judged, and sentenced to disorderly conduct and then charged again. A lawyer I know says this is called immediate adjudication. I'm not asking about the 2nd DO charge, but what kind of recourse do we have over the immediate sentencing after charging with the first one? You cannot charge someone with a crime over the phone as far as I know, so what do we do now? By the way, this judge is a municipal court judge over 17 cities in the northern Georgia area.

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Quoting no_highway_option

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My question involves civil rights in the State of: Georgia

My husband went down to the city hall of a small town in North Georgia (we live about 2 hours away) requesting open records of an incident that had happened over the weekend. They were not being helpful, so my husband got a little mouthy and said "I can't wait to sue the **** out of your city" as he walked out the door. (He said that because we believe they conducted an illegal search of our vehicle and charged him with possession of something that did not exist). The chief of police called him and said he planned on charging him with disorderly conduct next time he sees him. Remember, he said this OVER THE PHONE. My husband showed up to his court date and during the roll call, he said he would like to talk to the solicitor about the charges of possession. A little while later,k the judge called a few cops up to the stand then called my husband. My husband said "I need to speak to the solicitor." Judge said "No, we're doing this now." He said they were binding the charges over to the state (would not even listen to evidence we found from dashcam footage and police reports) and asked what his problem was with the other charge, i.e. why did he curse like that. Husband asks "Am I on trial right now? I haven't even been charged with that" and the Chief says "I told you over the phone you would be charged" and then the judge proceeds to hand my husband the citation and says "I find you guilty of disorderly conduct" and husband says "this is a kangaroo court" and was promptly charged again and taken to jail. So in a span of about 90 seconds, he was literally charged, judged, and sentenced to disorderly conduct and then charged again. A lawyer I know says this is called immediate adjudication. I'm not asking about the 2nd DO charge, but what kind of recourse do we have over the immediate sentencing after charging with the first one? You cannot charge someone with a crime over the phone as far as I know, so what do we do now? By the way, this judge is a municipal court judge over 17 cities in the northern Georgia area.

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Its time for your husband to talk to an attorney about an appeal. It needs to be done very quickly.

Post hx is relevant.

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Quoting no_highway_option

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They were not being helpful, so my husband got a little mouthy.... The chief of police called him and said he planned on charging him with disorderly conduct next time he sees him.

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And you're stating that the charge was filed?

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Quoting no_highway_option

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My husband showed up to his court date and during the roll call, he said he would like to talk to the solicitor about the charges of possession. A little while later,k the judge called a few cops up to the stand then called my husband. My husband said "I need to speak to the solicitor." Judge said "No, we're doing this now."

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This was what? An arraignment? The defendant has no right to delay an arraignment to talk to a prosecutor. For most other criminal court proceedings a prosecutor would be present in court.

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Quoting no_highway_option

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He said they were binding the charges over to the state (would not even listen to evidence we found from dashcam footage and police reports) and asked what his problem was with the other charge, i.e. why did he curse like that.

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The court is not going to entertain a defendant's arguments about his possible defenses at an arraignment, because that's not the purpose of an arraignment.

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Quoting no_highway_option

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...and then the judge proceeds to hand my husband the citation and says "I find you guilty of disorderly conduct"....

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That's not plausible. Perhaps what the judge in fact did was find your husband to be in contempt of court for his behavior in the courtroom.

You can ask (or hire) your lawyer friend to help you figure out what actually happened, and to bring any appropriate motion or appeal.

My husband had court on 10/28/15 for the possession charge. Before court started the Chief presented and asked him to sign the Disorderly charge. Husband signed it "signed under duress" and did not receive a copy until the judge threw it at him and said he was guilty of the charge. So he was not given a court date for the disorderly charge, it happened all in one sitting. He was guilty before he even got there that day apparently. You say "that's not plausible." That is my point exactly. The cops that eventually took him to the jail admitted they had never seen anything like that before in their lives. This was not an arraignment, this was municipal court.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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Post hx is relevant.

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Hi, can you explain this please?

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Quoting no_highway_option

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My husband had court on 10/28/15 for the possession charge. Before court started the Chief presented and asked him to sign the Disorderly charge. Husband signed it "signed under duress" and did not receive a copy until the judge threw it at him and said he was guilty of the charge. So he was not given a court date for the disorderly charge, it happened all in one sitting. He was guilty before he even got there that day apparently. You say "that's not plausible." That is my point exactly.

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I suspect that your husband behaved badly in court and was in fact convicted of contempt. I am not able to review his court records from where I'm sitting. Go hire your friend, the lawyer, to find out what actually happened and to suggest the next step.

Thanks for the replies. It is funny to me because you are trying to make logical sense of it, which it cannot. He literally was charged and convicted at the same time and then charged again for the courtroom fiasco (saying 'kangaroo court'). That could have easily been a contempt of court charge, but he chose to call it disorderly conduct. What I would like to know for sure is, can someone be charged over the phone or without being there? Because even if that is allowed, he never received a copy of the citation with the court date on it. He was just there for the previous charge that happened about a month prior.

I understand what you are saying. As I have told you, I have no access to the court records. If you are correct, your lawyer friend can file an appropriate motion or appeal based on what happened. If you are not, your lawyer friend can suggest what your husband might do next, given his multiple charges. So again, you should hire your lawyer friend to help your husband.

I am the husband. This happened to me his name is Robert A Sneed. The judge served me the copy of my ticket and found me guilty within 3-5 minutes all while i was pleading for help.

You/your husband/whoever needs a lawyer. The issues here are beyond a message board.