Panel Tosses Contempt Sentence Against Lawyer for ‘Sarcastic’ Expression

Lawyers who have a hard time keeping a poker face when they don't like a judge's ruling can take heart in a decision issued last week by the Georgia Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel tossed a judge's ruling finding a lawyer in contempt for making what the judge called a "sarcastic" face at him. Chief Judge A.J. "Buddy" Welch Jr. had ordered Ella A. S. Hughes to jail, but an appeals panel reversed, in part on the grounds that Welch didn't give Hughes an opportunity to fight a possible contempt finding.