A North Carolina father of one spent 24 hours in jail for refusing to wear a mask as ordered by a judge despite no state or country directives in place.
WRAL reported that Gregory Hahn, 47, a US Navy veteran, was among several of 98 jury duty candidates called to Harnett County court who showed up not wearing a mask because there were no such restrictions or warnings in place.
Despite the fact that masks aren’t required in the building, Judge Winston Charles Gilchrist mandated that everyone in his courtroom wear a mask.
When Hahn refused, the judge warned him that he would be held in contempt of court and could spend a month in jail, but the man refused to back down.
He said that he wasn’t going to wear a mask.
Harnett County Clerk of Superior Court Renee Whittenton noted that Gilcrist is the only superior court judge in the county with a mask mandate.
She said you can go into any district courtroom without a mask, you can come into superior clerk court without a mask and the district attorney’s office without a mask, but Judge Gilchrist has a mandate that you must wear a mask, she told WRAL.
Despite the judge’s directives, Hahn said there was never notice in the jury summons he received, nor were there any signs around the courthouse, and that the irony of all this was that the judge was speaking to him without a mask and that if safety was such a problem, then he will go to jail because there are no mask requirements with inmates.
Hahn said that he felt there was some discrimination in the judge’s determination to jail him, saying he was indeed bullied for standing up for what he believed in.
Remembering his day in jail, Hahn told Carlson that it was the worst 24 hours of his life and that he had to make a phone call to his minor child who was home.
He said he got signalled in. That he got changed into an orange uniform. He was given a roll of toilet paper, toothpaste, a towel, and a mat, and then he was walking with prisoners to a cell.
Hahn added that he never believed this could happen in this country.
Hahn works as the CEO of Construction Optimize, a local marketing and leadership consulting company.
This, of course, is a total abuse of authority. Nevertheless, the judge has total jurisdiction to set the rules in his court, and if you ignore them you can be found in contempt and imprisoned, and it appears that this isn’t an overreach – you obey the regulations or you suffer the consequences.
It’s a mask for Christ’s sake, and they really do nothing apart from show that you’re obedient, and I for one will not be compliant for anyone – I’m not a dog! But for those that do want to be obedient, I’ll give you a leash.
We might as well have been forced to wear pointed hats for protection against the virus, than the masks that were provided. Frankly, the past few years could have been scripted for Monty Python.
My honour, this man didn’t even have a trial, and the person who accused him was also the person who judged him. He also didn’t have the chance to see the evidence or defend himself.
The next thing we’ll see is real total control with judges being able to conduct panty inspections, foot fungus inspections and body cavity searches – get a grip.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 