Former TV Judge Joe Brown was arrested and cited five times for contempt of court in Memphis on Monday when he apparently
lost his temper with court staff, TMZ reported.
Brown reportedly went to the court to represent someone in a child support case, but when he arrived, the staff there apparently told him they didn’t have a record of the case.
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He lost his temper, TMZ said, refusing to be quiet even though he was told several times to do so. A source told TMZ that Brown was “playing to the peanut gallery” and “incited a near riot.”
He was ordered to spend five days in jail for the contempt charges.
Brown apparently began to complain about delays in the court and then began a “diatribe against [longtime Juvenile Court Magistrate Harold 'Hal'] Horne and the authority of the court,”
said Juvenile Court Chief Magistrate Dan Michael, according to the Commercial Appeal.
“He all but had that courtroom in a riot,’’ Michael continued.
Horne held Brown in contempt and sentenced him to just one day in jail, but when Brown wouldn’t quiet down, the judge added four counts, the Commerical Appeal said.
Brown is running for District Attorney in Shelby County.
Many posting on the stories about Brown’s arrest said the situation had to do with his bid for that county seat.
“I’m sure this is just a attempt to hinder his bid for election. ... There murders [sic] on the street of Memphis that done less than five days,”
one man wrote on a WREG story.
“He gon' win ina landslide now,” another wrote on the Commercial Appeal story.
Others, though, weren’t impressed. At least one person pointed out that Brown was setting a poor example for kids. "Buffoonery at its finest! And to think, this Bozo might actually become the Shelby County AG. Just think how this could affect the Grand Jury system, among other things."
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