JOLIET, Ill. -- An Illinois judge says he is "eating his words" after a man took him up on a joking offer to pay off his community service hours by feeding the court.
Will County Judge Robert Livas said Darrius Logan, 24, came into his courtroom in August and said he had completed his community service sentence for misdemeanor battery and criminal trespass charges by working 100 unpaid hours at Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken in Chicago.
The judge said he told Logan to return in two months with proof of completing the service hours elsewhere and joked that he would waive the service hours if Logan instead brought enough jerk chicken to feed the court, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Livas said he was shocked when Logan came in to his courtroom Oct. 6 with a tray of Uncle Joe's jerk chicken, bread and two sides of hot sauce.
"A defendant took something I said as a joke literally," Livas said. "It forced me to keep my word and accept his original (community service) letter. I give him credit -- he made me eat my words."
Some legal experts said Livas' actions in the case may represent a minor violation of the judicial code of conduct.
"This was a stupid mistake for the judge to make," DePaul University law professor Jeffrey Shaman said. "It's perhaps a minor violation. But ... it makes a mockery of what judges are supposed to do."
Source
