DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS JUDGE BEING MAD OR NOT!
Girl, 17, jailed for ringing phone
Sentenced to 21 days for contempt
BY RICK BRAND
STAFF WRITER
November 20, 2004
A ringing cell phone landed a 17-year-old Patchogue girl facing drug charges in a jail cell this week after an angry district court judge sentenced her to 21 days for contempt.
Mariela Acevedo of 21 Hammond St. incurred the wrath of District Court Judge Salvatore Alamia on Tuesday. As she awaited her hearing, an electronic device went off in Alamia's Central Islip courtroom and he warned everyone to shut off all cell phones and pagers or face contempt charges.
'If you don't know how to shut it off, go outside and introduce it to the heel of your shoe,' he said according to a transcript.
When Acevedo's phone subsequently sounded, Alamia called the teenager forward and asked, 'Did you think I was playing with you?'
She responded, 'No. I thought I had turned it off.'
'Yes, you did. Right,' said Alamia, sentencing her to 21 days on the spot. 'I know you've been playing with it all morning, sayonara.'
After a night in the Suffolk County jail in Riverhead, Acevedo appeared Wednesday before Alamia and pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. The judge allowed the contempt charge to run concurrently.
Alamia, 63, an Islip Republican, declined to comment, referring to Warren G. Clark, a court spokesman.
Clark declined to discuss whether sentence was appropriate, but said Suffolk Administrative Judge H. Patrick Leis III and Madeline Fitzgibbons, supervising judge of the district court, 'are aware of the proceeding and are reviewing the matter.'
Legal Aid Society, which represented Acevedo in court, declined to comment, and Acevedo's family could not be reached for comment.
Richard Barbuto, past president of the New York State Association of Defense Lawyers, wouldn't say whether 21 days was excessive for contempt, but added, 'If that sentence was used to coerce a plea in another case then I'd hope that someone in the Suffolk County judicial system would take a close look.'
I personally think it is appropriate!! It always seems that when you go somewhere, like the movies a theater and people are asked to turn the cell phones off or turn them to vibrate there is always at least one idiot that thinks that the rules doesn't apply to him or her.
For example my co-worker was teaching her class and all of the sudden a kid's cell phone rang. (Cellphones are banned in my school). My friend asked the student for the cellphone, who complied. My friend answered it, it was the girl's mother (as if she didn't know her 13 year old was at school) and the mother asks to speak to the girl. My friend goes on to explain that she is in the middle of teaching a lesson and this phone call just interrupted the class. The mother insisted on talking to the girl. My friend asked if it was an emergency. The mother replied 'No, I want to know where my sweater is that she borrowed'.![]()
My friend told the mother to call the office and leave a message for her daughter.![]()
Sentenced to 21 days for contempt
BY RICK BRAND
STAFF WRITER
November 20, 2004
A ringing cell phone landed a 17-year-old Patchogue girl facing drug charges in a jail cell this week after an angry district court judge sentenced her to 21 days for contempt.
Mariela Acevedo of 21 Hammond St. incurred the wrath of District Court Judge Salvatore Alamia on Tuesday. As she awaited her hearing, an electronic device went off in Alamia's Central Islip courtroom and he warned everyone to shut off all cell phones and pagers or face contempt charges.
'If you don't know how to shut it off, go outside and introduce it to the heel of your shoe,' he said according to a transcript.
When Acevedo's phone subsequently sounded, Alamia called the teenager forward and asked, 'Did you think I was playing with you?'
She responded, 'No. I thought I had turned it off.'
'Yes, you did. Right,' said Alamia, sentencing her to 21 days on the spot. 'I know you've been playing with it all morning, sayonara.'
After a night in the Suffolk County jail in Riverhead, Acevedo appeared Wednesday before Alamia and pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. The judge allowed the contempt charge to run concurrently.
Alamia, 63, an Islip Republican, declined to comment, referring to Warren G. Clark, a court spokesman.
Clark declined to discuss whether sentence was appropriate, but said Suffolk Administrative Judge H. Patrick Leis III and Madeline Fitzgibbons, supervising judge of the district court, 'are aware of the proceeding and are reviewing the matter.'
Legal Aid Society, which represented Acevedo in court, declined to comment, and Acevedo's family could not be reached for comment.
Richard Barbuto, past president of the New York State Association of Defense Lawyers, wouldn't say whether 21 days was excessive for contempt, but added, 'If that sentence was used to coerce a plea in another case then I'd hope that someone in the Suffolk County judicial system would take a close look.'
I personally think it is appropriate!! It always seems that when you go somewhere, like the movies a theater and people are asked to turn the cell phones off or turn them to vibrate there is always at least one idiot that thinks that the rules doesn't apply to him or her.
For example my co-worker was teaching her class and all of the sudden a kid's cell phone rang. (Cellphones are banned in my school). My friend asked the student for the cellphone, who complied. My friend answered it, it was the girl's mother (as if she didn't know her 13 year old was at school) and the mother asks to speak to the girl. My friend goes on to explain that she is in the middle of teaching a lesson and this phone call just interrupted the class. The mother insisted on talking to the girl. My friend asked if it was an emergency. The mother replied 'No, I want to know where my sweater is that she borrowed'.
