Judge Joe Brown Meltdown Prompts Arrest
Judge Joe Brown, former star of his own television show about the legal system, was arrested earlier this week on contempt of court charges. Brown became involved in a child support case being heard before Juvenile Court Magistrate Harold Horne in Memphis when he became verbally abusive. After Brown failed to heed Horne's warnings that he choose better language and stop being so excited, Horne slapped him with a two-day jail sentence that was increased by another 24 hours behind bars when Brown continued shouting and yelling as he was led away from the courtroom.

Brown is best known to television audiences for his long-running "Judge Joe Brown" series which ran between 1998 and 2013 before its cancellation. Brown has recently thrown his hat into the political ring with a bid to run for the office of Shelby County District Attorney. It's not certain whether the current public attention being focused on him will help or hurt his candidacy.

When interviewed from jail, Brown admitted that what bothered him most about the incident was his loss of freedom. He called the circumstances surrounding his arrest totally "weird" because he was not officially representing the woman appearing in the courtroom regarding a child support issues. The 67-year old Brown contends that he only became involved in her fight when she asked for his help in looking over the facts of her case. Brown says that he became sick to his stomach when he reviewed her case information and began vigorously insisting that her case should never have progressed to that point. Brown insists his arrest was no publicity stunt. He also challenged Judge Harold Horne's ability to sentence him to jail time rather than merely slap him with a fine, contending Horne is only an attorney and not a real judge.

Online:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/24/judge-joe-brown-arrested_n_5023720.html?flv=1