We often hear about judges who make a difference for the people in their courtroom and one of those individuals is Michigan’s Judge Qiana Lillard. What she did when somebody decided to snicker inappropriately in her courtroom is making waves online and it is going to have you cheering out loud. Judge Lillard was taking care of a case that involved a 25-year-old driver who was charged with “operating under the influence and causing death” and then the unexpected happened.
The driver, Amanda Kosal was driving under the influence when she collided with 31-year-old Jerome Zirker and his fiancée, 31-year-old Brittany Johnson. Jerome died as a result of the accident and Britney is still struggling with severe injuries. It was the time in the case when the families were reading their impact statements to Kosal and the family started laughing.
As you can imagine, Judge Lillard was infuriated and she was going to teach them a lesson they wouldn’t forget.
As soon as the family started laughing during such an inappropriate time, Judge Lillard stopped the proceedings. They weren’t expecting to get in trouble for snickering but they ended up going to jail.
One of the Kosal male family members received the bulk of the fury of the judge and then she turned her attention to the mother. She said:
“Whoever can sit here at a tragic moment like this and laugh and smile when somebody has lost a family member… in the entire time that Mr. Zirker’s sister was speaking, that clown — and that’s what I am going to call him, a clown — was sitting there smiling and laughing.
And you [pointing to Kosal’s mother] can go, too. Because if you don’t know how to act, you can go to jail. So leave…”
“This is a court of law, and these are very serious matters. I understand you all are very upset because your loved one is going to prison — but guess what? She’s going to there for the choices that she made. These people are here grieving, saddened because a senseless act took away their loved one, and you’re sitting here acting like it’s a joke?
Not in Courtroom 502. Not today and not any other day.
Your disruptive and disrespectful behavior disrupted today’s proceedings and you, ma’am, are going to the Wayne County Jail for 93 days.”
Kosal’s mother was removed by the bailiffs and taken to the county jail. She ended up serving one day out of the 93 but there is no doubt that she will think twice before she does something so disrespectful again.
Millions of people have watched Judge Lillard’s response to the inappropriate actions in her courtroom. She even went on Facebook to thank those who supported her and appreciated what she was doing. As you can tell, she takes her job seriously and she will not tolerate that type of behavior in her courtroom.
“Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to visit this page to express your feelings. I am honored to have the privilege of serving the citizens of Wayne County.”
I’m sure that nobody will be laughing in her courtroom over such a serious matter again.
You can watch the statement to Kosal’s mother in this video: