Betül İnan - 16 July 2021 - Comments

Missouri lawyer gets week in jail for cursing out judge

A Missouri lawyer was ordered to spend a week in jail for cursing out a judge during a hearing, according to a report. Eugene H. Fahrenkrog Jr., a medical malpractice attorney for Sumner Law Group in Clayton, was charged with criminal contempt for his outburst Wednesday to St. Louis County Circuit Judge John Borbonus, whom he told, “f–k you,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “Said behavior was willfully and intentionally committed, contemptuous, insolent and directly tended to interrupt proceedings of this Court and to impair the respect due its authority,” a warrant issued by Borbonus read. Fahrenkrog, an attorney licensed in Missouri since 1971, was representing a plaintiff in a 2019 medical malpractice case in St. Louis County at the time, the newspaper reported. It’s unclear exactly what preceded Fahrenkrog’s reported outburst, but a case docket showed an ongoing dispute regarding the production of evidence in the ongoing lawsuit. “Judge John N. Borbonus hereby certifies that said conduct was committed in the actual presence of this Court,” the judge’s order continued. A receptionist at Fahrenkrog’s office told The Post he was “not in” Thursday afternoon. She hung up when asked if she had additional information to provide regarding Wednesday’s hearing. Fahrenkrog, who was not in jail Wednesday, declined comment when reached by the Post-Dispatch, the newspaper reported.