Outbursts earn Kansas City lawyer 120 days in jail

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- An attorney's rude behavior has earned him a four-month stay in the Greene County Jail.

Greene County Circuit Court Judge Tom Mountjoy sentenced Kansas City lawyer Carlos D. Romious to 120 days in jail last week because of Romious' "rude and angry" demeanor toward the judge.

It's unclear from court records what ultimately led Mountjoy to incarcerate Romious, but the judgment of contempt Mountjoy filed on July 24 outlines past outbursts by Romious in the judge's courtroom.

Romious was representing Alton L. Vaughn, of St. Charles, in a jury trial for allegedly defrauding eight people from December 2003 to May 2005.

The judgment states that on July 16, Romious "loudly and rudely" asked Mountjoy "if the 'proceeding was a joke' and stated to the Court 'you're going to sit your ass up there."'

Romious also accused Mountjoy of "corrupting and stinking up the case" and "corrupting this system." The next day, when Mountjoy ordered the attorney to appear in court at 8 a.m. on June 18, Romious said "don't hold your breath," the document states.

When Romious did show up on June 18, he at one point asked the judge, "Are you a pedophile?"

The judgment also references an instance where Romious wadded up papers and smashed them with his shoe after taking the documents from his opposing counsel.

Vaughn's trial was scheduled to start on June 19, but Romious did not show up to court. Court records indicate Romious was scheduled to appear as a defendant in a Kansas federal court that day on a charge of assaulting a court security officer.

That charge stemmed from a May incident in which Romious allegedly assaulted a court security officer after he refused to pass through a metal detector in a courthouse in Kansas City, Kan.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com