Robert Almodovar had already endured the gravest injustice possible when he spent over two decades in prison for a double murder he didn’t commit.
When Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas threatened to send him back behind bars and banned him from the Leighton Criminal Courthouse for bringing a cellphone into her courtroom last fall, legal imprudence entangled Almodovar once again.
Chiampas is allowed discretion when she’s on the bench, as long as she’s following the law. She can even implement her own rules on proper courtroom etiquette.
But her ire seemed to come out of left field when she targeted Almodovar. She also refused to give him a chance to stow his mobile phone, even though he believed, as a law clerk, he was exempt from the cellphone ban at the courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue.
Chiampas, at the very least, acted like the “bully” as she was described by Almodovar to Sun-Times reporter Matthew Hendrickson.
A robe and a gavel doesn’t give Chiampas the right to act in petty fashion, and she should be held accountable. Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans made the right call to send the matter to the court’s executive committee to review.
Chiampas, who lifted Almodovar’s courthouse ban last week, will be given the chance to present her case, which Almodovar didn’t get to do when he was forced to hand over his cellphone for review or face six months in jail.
Even if the committee doesn’t end up issuing disciplinary action or sending the investigation to the state’s Judicial Inquiry Board, Chiampas and other judges might think twice before they fly off the handle.
Evans told Hendrickson he will further amend the electronics ban, which has been been a source of confusion due to concerns about witness intimidation since its implementation in 2013 at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse and other facilities where criminal cases are heard.
The latest amendment, Evans said, will focus on the media’s use of cellphone and electronic devices.
Perhaps it is time to overhaul and rewrite the entire policy altogether, to further clarify who can have a cellphone — and keep judges from having unnecessary meltdowns.
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