This needs publicity. Please pass it on. Osceola Circuit Judge Margaret Waller had a Public Defender arrested in court because she couldn't proceed on a case in which the prosecution had failed to turn over the documents.

A rookie assistant public defender who exchanged words with a judge was held in contempt, handcuffed and ordered to sit with her criminal client, who consoled her.

Kemie King, 27, was handcuffed in the courtroom and then ordered to sit beside jail-inmate clients in the courtroom's jury box as Circuit Judge Margaret Waller continued hearing other cases. King was not formally charged and was not booked into jail.

....District Public Defender Bob Wesley called the incident "humiliating." The Public Defender's Office is considering filing a complaint against Waller with the Judicial Qualifications Committee, the state body that handles complaints against judges, the Orlando Sentinel reported. "It's just a bully act," Wesley said Wednesday.

....Waller complained King arrived unprepared. King replied that it was not her fault, and she did not have the proper documents to proceed. "Oh please, do not argue with me. Do not argue with me, or I'm going to put you in jail," Waller told King. King pressed her case that the prosecution failed to provide her with paperwork needed to move the case forward. There was more give and take, with the judge and King talking over each other until the judge finally aid, "Contempt."

....While cuffed, King had received consolation from Mercado, the man she was supposed to defend. "He said, 'I'm really sorry,'" King said. "I told him it really wasn't his fault."

This Judge was out of line. Judicial temperment is an important part of being a judge. If a judge no longer has it, he or she should consider private practice and move on.