The 10 Craziest Reactions To Court Sentencings

Image via Complex Original

This, guys, is why one should never talk back to a judge when they’re holding your fate in their gavel-happy hands. Brian Noval wouldn't have received the sentence of 120 days in jail that he did had he heeded this advice when appearing in front of Judge John Hurley for the charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence.

Noval was initially given 60 days in prison, but upon hearing that he was to be held without bail, he responded by calling the judge a "cock," amongst other names. Hurley wasn't having it, and he called Noval back so he could threaten to hold him in contempt of the court. Noval promptly apologized, but continued that he wasn't sentenced with the same charges the day prior, which is why he's confused. Hurley accepts, and reiterates Noval's original sentence of 60 days in prison.

Should be over, but no surprise, Noval's still not happy. He asks if he can take the "cock" back, 'causing Hurley to call him back before the court and adding on 60 more days to his sentence for being an idiot. At this, Noval finally leaves, while muttering that he "didn't know [the judge] could do that." Yeah, we couldn't tell.

After watching 36-year-old Latasha Williams’ reaction to an officer attempting to take her into custody, we can safely say we understand why the courts were questioning her mental stability at this particular hearing. Williams was facing charges of child endangerment and kidnapping after she allegedly threatened two children at a Las Vegas apartment complex.

In this raw footage of a mental health hearing, Williams can be seen speaking calmly to the judge—until an officer approaches her to take her into custody. She proceeds to lose it, and what follows is a full-on brawl that left one officer with a cut on his face and a knee injury that had to be treated at a local hospital.

There are reasonable ways to plead for a judge’s mercy, but we gotta say, this is not one of them. During his trial, where he was being convicted for stabbing a nurse at a mental health facility, Juan Rodriguez made a last-ditch effort at freedom—by threatening to kill the judge if she didn’t let him out of jail for Rosh Hashanah, because he is Jewish. Gold star for trying?

No surprise, it didn’t work, and the judge ordered that he be held without bond on the first-degree attempted murder charge. 

After this clip, 25-year-old Andrew Wirth was eventually charged with first degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing an off-duty police officer and her boyfriend outside of a bar in Wisconsin.

But his crazy reaction wasn't actually in response to that. It instead occurred earlier, when the judge set his bail at $1 million. Wirth stands up, seeming calm, before he goes completely postal on surrounding officers to the point where he has to be subdued by an electronic stun gun before being carried out of the court room.

This is a man with nothing to lose. After being convicted of battery for assaulting two police officers by allegedly spitting in both their faces while being held at Sedgwick County Jail, Michael Gaines was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He responded by launching into a rant in which he curses out the judge and the prosecutor, cries oppression, and informs the court that he will raise his voice at anyone who raises their voice at him.

Unsurprisingly, this didn't go down well with the judge, and officers escorted him out of the court room while he called the prosecutor a "maggot" who "should have died" when he was a baby. Charmed, we're sure.

It’s difficult to flip people off in handcuffs, so Anthony Allen settled for reading off a prepared statement, in which he called the judge both “unprofessional” and “desperate.” The impromptu essay reading took place just before the judge sentenced Allen to 25 years to life for the murder of a group home worker, who he allegedly beat to death in upstate New York.

His lawyers likely had an aneurysm two seconds later.

After being sentenced to 40 years in prison, 47-year-old Marcial Anguiano took a razor blade to his neck and sliced his throat right in the courtroom before the judge. Anguiano was facing the sentence after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for cutting his niece with a butcher’s knife. 

He was taken to an area hospital after the apparent suicide attempt and treated for the wound, as it only cut muscle and didn’t hit any arteries. He was fine after receiving the medical attention.

Erica Mae Butts and Shanita Latrice Cunningham barely heard the end of their sentencing—life in prison for the murder of a toddler—before they simultaneously collapsed and began screaming and hyper-ventilating. The women, who are lovers, were convicted for the crime of beating three-year-old Serenity Richardson to death in 2009 while was in their care, so brutally that the judge reportedly commented that nothing had ever affected her as strongly as the photos from the crime scene. And to add salt to that gaping wound, Butts was Serenity’s mother’s best friend and the child’s godmother.

Butts’ and Cunningham’s reaction to the sentencing wasn’t the only significant one that took place in the courtroom that day. Upon hearing the verdict, Butts’ mother began shouting and screaming to the point where she had to be escorted out of the courtroom.

In the cases of these insane reactions to court convictions, one has to wonder if a certain degree of sympathy should be felt for those sentenced, or if their reaction to their punishment is warranted on behalf of the wronged. It can be a dicey, confusing situation depending on the circumstances - but in the case of Seandell Jackson, it's pretty cut and dry.

The 19-year-old was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and robbery of a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee film student, Nathan Potter, who he attacked with an accomplice outside Potter's apartment. During the trial and reading of his sentencing, he showed no signs of regret or sorrow over his crimes, even at one point smiling at the victim's family while being escorted out of the court room.

When sentenced to a much deserved life term in prison with no chance of parole, Jackson began cursing out the judge and growing violent to the point where he had to be subdued by several officers and pepper spray. Members of Jackson's family in the back of the court room began speaking directly to the victim's family as this was going on, yelling things like "I hate you, I hate you all!" and "God's the judge," at Potter's mother and father. 

Warning: This particular reaction is tough to watch. 

After being found guilty of arson, and facing seven to 21 years behind bars, Michael Marin was caught on camera in a Phoenix, AZ courtroom placing his hands over his mouth, in what initially looked like a reaction of shock to his sentencing, before taking a drink from a water bottle sitting on the table in front of him. A few minutes later, he was dead.

Post-mortem toxicology tests confirmed that Marin poisoned himself with cyanide after hearing the verdict, which he was able to sneak in with him because he wasn’t in custody during his trial and therefore wasn’t searched upon entering the courthouse.

Marin, a former Wall Street trader, was accused of setting fire to his own home after he couldn’t keep up with the payments. He reportedly bought the cyanide a year prior, and told family members “he could not go back to jail and would do something drastic if found guilty.”