I am not agreeing with the poacher, but the judges actions were directed at his brother and were uncalled for. She needs to be removed from her position.

Judge muzzles hunter in court
Disrespectful sigh? A man who was handcuffed says his civil rights were 'kind of violated'
By Lisa Rosetta
The Salt Lake Tribune



Kent Jacobson had never set foot in 3rd District Court until Feb. 24, when he watched his brother stand before a judge on a charge of wanton destruction of wildlife.
The judge, Leslie Lewis, was cordial with defendants - until his brother's case was called. Then, he said, she did a "360."
"When she found out it was a hunting deal, she got madder than hell."
Within a few minutes, Jacobson would find himself before the judge, then handcuffed and detained in a holding cell.
His offense: apparently challenging her moral assumptions about deer hunting.
Lewis, however, said that Jacobson was disruptive and in "contempt of court," though she never articulated that to him and he has not been charged.
Jacobson's ordeal began in November, when his brother, Michael Jacobson, helped transport a trophy deer worth $8,000 that a friend had poached.
Lewis, who said she recently had a harrowing experience in which a hunter fired a shot that narrowly missed her head, recused herself from the poaching case.
"I cannot in all honesty tell you that I believe I could be fair. I have a prejudice concerning deer hunting and people who kill deer and transport deer who have been shot," she said during the Feb. 24 hearing.
It was a fair move, Kent Jacobson thought.
But it was her line of questioning afterward, he said, that raised his ire. While Lewis' clerk searched for another judge to take the case, she began peppering Michael Jacobson with questions, which The Tribune reviewed in a videotape of the proceedings.
"Have you ever actually looked at a deer when they're alive?"
Jacobson answered yes.
"And it doesn't bother you that you can see their heart beating?" the judge persisted.
No answer.
"I'm asking you a question. I expect an answer," Lewis said.
"Yeah," Jacobson said.
"Were you starving? Did you need the meat?"
"I wasn't the one who shot the animal," Jacobson said.
"Would you have stopped your friend?"
"Nope, I wasn't there at all," he said.
The clerk then reassigned the case to Judge Deno Himonas and as the clerk looked up his calender, Kent Jacobson stood up from his seat in the back of the courtroom, sighed and walked out.
His action apparently upset Lewis, who ordered a bailiff to bring him back to the courtroom.
"Now," she said, "why did you feel the need to make such an explosive and clear indication of your displeasure or boredom at being here?"
"OK," he said, " it's not just the displeasure of being bored here. The problem is we have just as much rights as going out and shooting deer as you have the right . . . "
Lewis interrupted him, and said in a loud voice, "What are you talking about?"
An obviously irritated Lewis told Kent Jacobson that he had no right to chastise her, that the two of them were not in equal positions and that she did not make a comment that he had any right to correct. She pointed out that when she asked him if he was bored, he answered, "yes."
"Take him back," Lewis told the bailiff. "I don't want to look at him."
"Well, I was bored," Kent Jacobson mumbled as the bailiff walked him out.
After being held handcuffed for about 20 minutes, Kent Jacobson was escorted by a bailiff through another courtroom and released. He has not been charged with any crime relating to the incident.
His first - and what he hopes will be his last - experience in a 3rd District courtroom was over.
"She had no right to do that to me because she asked what my opinion was and she didn't like it," he said Friday, adding that he believes the judge "kind of violated" his civil rights.
"To me, [hunting] is a tradition. We've been brought up in it. I respect deer, I respect all animals. Our family has been hunters for hundreds of years in this country," he said.
Kent Jacobson insists he's not a troublemaker. He walked out of Lewis' courtroom because he didn't want to make a bigger scene.
Lewis denies any wrongdoing. On Feb. 24, she said, her courtroom was packed with people. She had 70 cases to read through. Kent Jacobson was disruptive, and it was her responsibility, as judge, to maintain order in her court.
"I think it's a sign of disrespect to indicate you are disgusted and bored by court proceedings. If that's how you feel, you shouldn't be in a courtroom," she told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday.
"In retrospect, I should have just let him walk out of the courtroom. That was a mistake. But not a mistake I should be sanctioned for in the press."
So, if her concern was order in the court, why did the judge query Michael Jacobsen about hunting?
"I was interested in what his rationale was and since I wasn't trying the case, I didn't see any problem with that," she said. "I don't think it's inappropriate."
Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom said he was aware of the incident but declined to discuss whether his office was investigating, noting that judicial conduct complaints are not a matter of public record.
In Judge Himonas' courtroom, meanwhile, Michael Jacobson on Friday entered a plea in abeyance to wanton destruction of protected wildlife, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to 24 months probation, during which time he cannot hunt and must pay $2,500 to an anti-poaching fund.
Kent Jacobson accompanied his brother to court again. This time, though, he stayed outside the courtroom.

Abuse of power?.....these public officials need to be dealt with harshly. What a croc....

judge himonas was the judge last summer when I had to go to trial against my ex-wife, He was very patient with her attorney even though he was totally seanile, everyone in the courtroom knew it, Her attorney even argued with the judge a few times, he never lost his cool, and gave my ex wife a more than fair shake and her day in court, She was the one who brought the trial on, while everything didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted, 95% of everything went in my favor, either way I think himonas trys to be fair about things

Sounds like the self righteousness that most liberal politicans and government employees think they deserve.....

The entire judicial system in this country is overpopulated with tons of them...

And it will never get any better....

If she could hear him "sigh" from the fromt of the courtroom when he left the back of the courtroom, he did a lot more than sigh. Courtrooms are not always that quiet, especially if they were waiting for another jurist selection. He should learn to shut the fuck up. He could have left quietly. Did he? Hell no, he just had to make a "statement".

Judges are public servants and should remember that.

I just keep thinking of that phrase: "They act as if they are above the law."

Freaking libs! They want to eradicate the very foundations of right and wrong from the courtrooms, but personal bias is OK. They think our courtrooms are their burger king.

I listen to Alan Colmes once in a while when driving truck, the more I hear the more I see how detached from reality the left nuts really are.

The way I look at it, the one saving grace is the only thing that Adam and Steve can reproduce is a very nasty disease.

Keep the faith guys, one of these days another generation will come along and see right through their stupidity. Throughout history idiocy in power has always been self canceling.

When on the "other guys turf", best to keep your mouth shut and opinions to yourself.
Life is not fair, nor are judges.

Should not have been in the court room in the first place. Poaching is poaching and is a crime.

quote:

ordeal began in November, when his brother, Michael Jacobson, helped transport a trophy deer worth $8,000 that a friend had poached.

If he had not have participated in a crime this shit would have never happened. While the judge is full of it, they brought that shit on themselves.

quote:

Freaking libs! They want to eradicate the very foundations of right and wrong from the courtrooms, but personal bias is OK.

She was a Republican appointee,
THIRD DISTRICT COURT Judge Leslie A. Lewis

Judge Leslie A. Lewis was appointed to the Third District Court in January 1991 by Gov. Norman H. Bangerter. She serves Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele counties. Judge Lewis received her law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1974. She was in private practice with the law firm of Biele, Haslam & Hatch from 1974 to 1978, and worked for the Salt Lake County attorney's office from 1978 to 1988. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Lewis was a partner with the law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook & McDonough. Judge Lewis served twice as the presiding judge of Third District Court and is a former chair and past member of the Board of District Court Judges. She is a member and past president of Sutherland II Inns of the Court. Judge Lewis served on the Governor's Sentencing Commission and the Governor's Child Abuse Commission and as co-chair of the Gender and Justice Implementation Task Force. She is a member of the Salt Lake County Bar Executive Committee, the American Bar Foundation and serves on the Standing Committee for the Model Utah Jury Instructions. Judge Lewis was selected by the Utah State Bar as Judge of the Year in 1996, the YWCA as an Outstanding Woman of Achievement in 1998 and was honored by Gov. Leavitt as a Utah Woman of Achievement 1998-99. She established the "Booked," literacy in the jails program in 1992. Judge Lewis has served as the past national membership co-chair and program chair for the National Association of Women Judges.

the fact she was appointed by a republican means nothing, it also means nothing that she may also in fact be a "republican" herself, Utah has a very stange political situation, The main reason this state is a red state, is because of moral issues. In reality Utah is a very liberal state, if you factor taxes and junk fees we pay, we are 3rd highest taxed state in the whole US!!!! doesn't sound very conservative to me. Also the schools and the teachers have a power hold here, they keep getting more money with less results, plans for vouchers or tution tax credits are crushed and a celebration then happens, We had 1 billion in surplus this year, taxpayes only will be getting a measly 70 million in tax cuts, I say WTF!!!

California tree huggers are invading everyday, just go to salt lake or park city, you will see them. I tell everyone a texas democrat is more conservative than a utah republican, Its not my opinion its a true statement. I see all this because I grew up in central texas, nearest town had 700 people

quote:

California tree huggers are invading everyday

Those are the transplants that came to CA from some other state in the first place. Now we're sending em' back.

quote:

Originally posted by cummins cowboy:
In reality Utah is a very liberal state...Also the schools and the teachers have a power hold here, they keep getting more money with less results

Oh, COME ON! Utah democrats are right leaning moderates anywhere else in the country. Further, I can't see how you are complaining about education since I believe Utah spends less per student than every state in the Union...with the occasional exception of Mississippi. Yes, yes, I know this is due to a higher number of students but hell, if you don't wanna pay for 'em....DONT HAVE 'EM! In other words, don't bitch to the legislature, bitch to the bishops.

Pretty much the only republican Governor in Utah's history that I can respect is J. Bracken Lee who, while fiscally conservative, was so RIGHT on other issues that he was pretty much LEFT. As Mayor of Price, Utah his pure laissez faire attitudes made him turn a blind eye to my grandfather's distillery and brothel.



JMHO,

John

The Fact that she was appointed by anyone is irrelevant. Fact is she is an ATTORNEY. They pat each other on the back adnauseum. Just another Public servant who has lost site of who she serves.

The Fact that Leavitt gave her an award says less than nothing. I believe it was he and his family who brought "whirling disease" to the fish of Utah. Boy isn't that an endorsment...... Leavitt never stood up for the sportsman of Utah as long as he was in office, so don't tell me about that fine gentleman, lets talk about the Legacy highway that's going to run straight thru some of the finest waterfowl marshs in the west.

No matter what the problem was, sighing in the courtroom, on the way out, doesn't rise to the postition of "contempt".