Chad Johnson gets 30 days in jail

[Dave Gray]

^ Not necessarily.

I don't think he meant it as disrespect, that's for sure. 

I think the judge had a bug up her ass.

Edit: I can agree that it's not "mature", but I don't feel that maturity level is grounds for imprisonment.

[Sunstroke]

Can you agree that a slap on the butt in a courtroom is not mature behavior and shows a disrespect for the proceedings?

I halfway agree with the first part, but not at all with the second.

On the first part...it may have been completely out of place, but we're talking about a person who regularly slaps another guy's backside during the performance of his chosen profession. Sometimes a player slaps a backside to say "good job," and sometimes to say "come on, let's do better." The butt slap is standard communication for football players. I think Chad might have just slipped...he thought the judge was interpreting his short response as underappreciating his attorney, and he just did what came natural...slapped him on the butt to tell him good job. I don't think he meant any disrespect to the court by that action, and believe that if the bozos who laughed behind him hadn't laughed, the judge wouldn't have given him the jail time.

[Phishfan]

In and of itself I agree Dave. If we locked away people simply for maturity level jail overpopulation would be even worse. But consider this, he was facing this time for another matter and his behavior showed he didn't take it seriously. He wasn't simply locked away for inappropriate behavior. He had committed other crimes and showed that he did not take the situation he was in very seriously. I would expect most people to agree that he should have been grateful for a plea deal and should have been on his best behavior. Every regular citizen I know who is guilty of VoP was locked away.

[Pappy13]

^ Not necessarily.

I don't think he meant it as disrespect, that's for sure.  

I think the judge had a bug up her ass.

Edit: I can agree that it's not "mature", but I don't feel that maturity level is grounds for imprisonment.

I don't believe that CJ meant any disrespect to the judge, but I'm not sure that he wasn't taking the proceedings lightly. Perhaps there was more than just this incident that occurred that got the judge worked up or perhaps she had told CJ already that he needed to take this seriously? I don't know. I would hope this wasn't all that went on. If this was all that happened, I do think it was a bit rash to ignore the plea bargain on that alone, however once the plea bargain was set aside, the 30 days for parole violations sounds about right to me.

[Phishfan]

I halfway agree with the first part, but not at all with the second.

On the first part...it may have been completely out of place, but we're talking about a person who regularly slaps another guy's backside during the performance of his chosen profession. Sometimes a player slaps a backside to say "good job," and sometimes to say "come on, let's do better." The butt slap is standard communication for football players. I think Chad might have just slipped...he thought the judge was interpreting his short response as underappreciating his attorney, and he just did what came natural...slapped him on the butt to tell him good job. I don't think he meant any disrespect to the court by that action, and believe that if the bozos who laughed behind him hadn't laughed, the judge wouldn't have given him the jail time.

This is a bullshit excuse. Football players also regularly cuss, spit at, and hit people violently during the performance of their profession. No one expects that behavior to carry into the outside world. Also, short answers are the expectation and norm in a courtroom. "Yes, your honor" is about all that needs to be said.

[Pappy13]

On the first part...it may have been completely out of place, but we're talking about a person who regularly slaps another guy's backside during the performance of his chosen profession.

And yet it's completely out of place outside his profession. Go ask Mike Golic what he thought about what CJ did. Athletes don't just go around smacking everyone on the butt wherever they are. It's accepted within the profession, but not in other places. Where you are is important. CJ should have known that so I can't excuse it and neither should the judge.

[Sunstroke]

Note to self: Go light on the butt-pats at the next TDMMC get-together.

[Dave Gray]

I just don't think it's the judges job to make a point or determine how serious someone is taking their punishment.  It's their job to oversee justice.

[Phishfan]

If someone does not take their punishment seriously was justice served?

[Pappy13]

I just don't think it's the judges job to make a point or determine how serious someone is taking their punishment.  It's their job to oversee justice.

I think it's a bit of a gray area. Yes judges are there to make sure justice is done, but justice is not just punishment. The ultimate goal of our judicial system is not just inflicting punishment, rather it's modifying the behavior of the individuals. The judges have a part to play in that judicial process. I think what the judge was doing was trying to get CJ to modify his behavoir. Whether or not she accomplished that, I don't know.

[Brian Fein]

I wonder if the fact that this judge was a woman and he was there because he head-butted his wife had anything to do with her short fuse.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

I personally don't think he meant any disrespect by the action I also don't think he was doing it to get a laugh.....I find her taking offense to it because a few people laughed a little over the top!!!!!

[Pappy13]

I highly recommend listening to ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson talk about this with Mike and Mike.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=9364398

The very last part I thought was extremely important. CJ was there because he had violated his probation which was set by this judge. In effect the whole proceeding was to convince the judge that CJ was taking his probation seriously and that he didn't need to be put in jail, he would fullfill his probation obligations. This was EXACTLY the WRONG thing to do when trying to convince someone you are taking them seriously. She believed his lawyer, but CJ convinced her that wasn't the case.

Maybe she over reacted. I do think he makes a good point in saying that CJ was probably just happy that he wasn't going to jail and expressed it in a VERY poor way. Wouldn't be the first time for him. Poor guy can't get out of his own way.

[Pappy13]

I just saw this from the judge "It's not the first time he's behaved that way in my courtroom,". I think this is only a small part of the bigger issue of CJ not taking these proceedings seriously and the judge thought he needed a few days in jail to reflect on it. She could have sentenced him to up to a year in jail for him not appearing before his probation officer for the last 3 months. CJ has a BIG problem and it's not this judge, it's his general lack of respect for the entire judicial process. I don't think he got what he deserved, but I think he got what he got because of past mistakes, not because of this one tiny slip up. That's what people are missing.

[MikeO]

Maybe she's never dealt with football players before, as they often slap teammates on the backside when they appreciate the job their teammate did.

He's not on a football field, he is in a courtroom. Should he have given the judge or his lawyer a "Gatorade Shower" as well to show his appreciation. Ya know since that's what football players do!