What happens when a young woman apparently high on drugs and not taking things seriously loses it when she hits against a judge doing his job as a … serious judge? The young woman confronts reality in the form of a higher bail bond — and jail time– has time to rethink. Attitude adjustment time.
The young woman who has gone viral is Penelope Soto, who first took her encounter with Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat in a Miami courtroom as a kind of lark. When it was clear he didn’t, she unleashed the F-bomb. That made it really worse and — a few days later — she re-appeared to him, this time to offer a tearful apology which partially worked (the contempt citation was removed). The background via ABC:
The longer Penelope Soto was in court, the more trouble she got into.
Soto, 18, faced Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat in a Miami courtroom Monday after being arrested and charged with drug possession. She was arrested Sunday after crashing her bike, and when police arrived she admitted to officials that she was high on Xanax and had more in her purse, according to ABC News affiliate WPLG.
Video of her courtroom appearance shows Soto laughing at times while facing the judge. When asked about the value of any property owned, Soto replied her jewelry was “worth a lot of money…like Rick Ross.”
Rodriguez-Chomat was not amused and asked Soto to be serious, saying, “We are not in a club.” He set Soto’s bail at $5,000. But when dismissed, Soto replied with an “adios” that prompted the judge to call her back and double her bail to $10,000.
Soto’s response was a gasp. “Are you serious,” she demanded.
“I am serious. Adios,” the judge shot back.
As the unsmiling Soto walked away she muttered “F*** you” and made a crude gesture involving her middle finger.
The judge called her back again and demanded to know if he had heard her correctly. When said he had indeed heard her correctly, Rodriguez-Chomat sentenced her to 30 days in jail for criminal contempt.
Here’s the video:
That was on Monday.
Now here she is back in the courtroom on Friday to apologize to the judge:
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.