Attorney Who Left Courtroom Fined $100
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A Los Angeles attorney has been fined $100 for contempt of court for having left a courtroom shortly before a jury was to announce its verdict against his client.
At the time, Douglas Young, 36, was representing Ronald Stanley Gerson, who had disappeared Nov. 13, the previous day, from the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building.
Gerson, who is missing, was sentenced last December in absentia to 13 years in state prison.
In assessing the fine, Superior Court Judge Richard C. Hubbell said Friday that although Young had admirably performed during the case, he caused major inconveniences for jury members by not showing up. The jurors had to return Nov. 14, when Young did show up, for the reading of the verdict.
The same day, Young was placed behind bars for contempt for having failed to show up in a Norwalk courtroom while he was in downtown Los Angeles on the Gerson case and other matters.
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