A judge in Cuyahoga County, Ohio directed to seal a convict’s mouth with tape for continuously disrupting the proceeding and being too ‘noisy’.
Franklyn Williams, convict in armed robbery case, interrupted the court proceedings 12 times in 30 minutes and despite directions from Judge John Russo to stay quite, he would not oblige.
To this end, the judge ordered to seal his mouth with tape for as long as the hearing continues. “I’m going to hear from your lawyers and that means zip it,” Russo told Franklyn.
However, it would not end there and the convict would continue to try and speak despite being mouth-taped.
Therefore, another piece of tape was wrapped around his mouth to ensure pin-drop silence.
Russo explained his move saying that he had conducted four hearings of the case and can guarantee that Franklyn ‘loves’ to speak. Hence, it was necessary to keep him quiet this time around, the judge added.
Williams was eventually sentenced to 24 years in jail for aggravated robbery, kidnapping and theft.