[JimNortonFan]

Any lawyers on the board who can help me out here?

[Merenguero]

This guy's behavior disrupted the court proceedings (I realize that that is a huge understatement), so it would count as contempt. Because the contempt occurred in the judge's presence, it would be direct contempt. I didn't hear the judge specifically say that he found was in contempt, so I don't believe he was. I have never seen a judge have such little control over her courtroom as this woman did. As soon as he started being disrespectful, she should have held him in contempt, denied bail (if this was, in fact, a bond hearing), and had the deputies take him back to lockup. It made absolutely no sense to me why this judge let him go on and on as much as she did.

[Architekt]

Depends what you call contempt. Personally, I'd be asking the judge what it means to be "innocent until proven guilty"

As for contempt? Straight up. The prisoner isn't even given a chance. I can't know for certain what went down, but from what I saw, the "evidence" amounted to eye witness statements - from people who automatically treat anyone in his position in contempt. Personally, I'd throw the case straight out if they didn't have anything else. The case itself was straight up bullshit. Even if he were hocking up something, he could have been just clearing his throat.

I liked how the judge ignored the guard mocking the prisoner. Interesting what people let slide when they're on "the same team"
He had every right to be pissed off