Michaels v. Loftus

Although counsel for neither party distinguished himself by his conduct in this otherwise quite ordinary probation violation hearing, the law by which we are bound affords us the right and obligation to focus on the two offenses for which Alexander J. Michaels was found in direct criminal contempt by the trial court and sentenced to two days in the county jail. One offense was a hand gesture directed toward opposing counsel. The other was the mumbling, in Romanian, of profanities at opposing counsel. We grant Mr. Michael’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus from the conviction for use of…