- LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A prisoner zapped with 50,000 volts of electricity
for talking too much in court sued Tuesday the judge who ordered the punishment,
claiming $50 million in damages -- $1,000 for each volt.
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- Ronald Hawkins was defending himself
at a sentencing hearing on June 30 when Municipal Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani
ordered a court bailiff to activate the electronic security belt he was
wearing.
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- He sued the judge in a civil rights action
in U.S. District Court.
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- The lawsuit, filed on Hawkins' behalf
by Los Angeles attorney Stephen Yagman, alleges Comparet-Cassani subjected
him to torture in violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on the use of
unreasonable force, cruel and unusual punishment and punishment before
a prisoner is convicted and sentenced.
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- The judge was not available Tuesday to
comment on the lawsuit. She had previously said that a code of judicial
ethics prevented her from discussing Hawkins' criminal case while it was
still pending.
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- The lawsuit also names the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Dept. as a co-defendant and seeks an injunction barring
it from using the security belts, known as REACT belts, on defendants who
do not present a physical threat.
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- Hawkins was convicted of stealing a bottle
of aspirin from a drug store, a misdemeanor offense. Because he had two
prior felony convictions prosecutors were seeking a much longer sentence
for him under California's "three strikes" law.
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- The law imposes stiff penalties for repeat
criminal offenders after the third conviction.
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- Yagman said Tuesday that Hawkins' predicament
reminded him of a scene from Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" in
which the character Jean Valjean was punished for stealing a loaf of bread.
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- The electric shock, lasting eight seconds,
was administered during Hawkins' sentencing hearing, at which he represented
himself.
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- According to court transcripts the judge
warned Hawkins she would have him zapped. "You are wearing a very
bad instrument, and if you want to feel it, you can, but stop interrupting
me," she said.
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- "You are going to electrocute me
for talking?" Hawkins asked. "No sir, but they will zap you if
you keep doing it," the judge replied.
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- After Hawkins had interrupted Comparet-Cassani
twice more, the judge told him: "One more time, one more time, go
ahead."
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- "That is unconstitutional,"
Hawkins replied before the judge ordered he receive the full 50,000-volt
force of the law in what lawyers later said was the first activation ever
in Los Angeles of a prisoner's electronic security belt.
-
- People in the courtroom said Hawkins
grimaced and stiffened as the electricity surged through his body.
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- The sentencing hearing was held over
to July 29 after Hawkins, 48, said he needed more time to recover from
the jolt.
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