FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Broward County Judge John Hurley went head to head Tuesday with a defense attorney who was defending a man arrested on drug possession charges.
Hurley first granted the defendant a pretrial release, but later decided to set a bond after he found out that the man was homeless.
The attorney, Dale Miller, claimed Hurley's decision wasn't fair, but Hurley maintained that the attorney's client did not have ties to the community and needed to be held.
"Since we're going to warehouse Mr. Ross for a while, can we get a…" Miller said.
"Hold on. Hold on, sir," Hurley said, cutting him off. "You know what? Your unprofessionalism and your smart-aleck..."
Miller interrupted.
"Sir, don't even try," Hurley said. "You need to pick up your professionalism. You've taken a shot at the court. It's unprofessional."
Hurley continued bashing Miller, telling him that he behaves like this often and has had to be admonished many times.
"You know you are taking a shot by saying warehousing," Hurley said. "You need to pick up your game for professionalism, sir. You don't need to editorialize. You don't need to give a shot like that to the court. You do it quite often, and frankly, sir, it seems that no admonishment I've given you in the past has gotten you to stop doing this."
The public defender tried to explain his position.
"I am advocating zealously for my client," Miller said. "I will not stop advocating."
Hurley would have none of it.
"You are advocating in an unprofessional way, and I'm not going to hear another word about it," Hurley responded. "You need to stop now. We're going to move on to the next case."