A man in Michigan showed his buttocks to a judge during his virtual court appearance on Monday, according to reports.
35-year-old Hassan Chokr was in court for a virtual emergency bond motion hearing for a charge of resisting arrest in Wayne County when he mooned Judge Regina Thomas.
Chokr was out on bond when he allegedly hurled anti-Semitic remarks in front of a West Bloomfield temple childcare on Friday.
The prosecutor claimed during the hearing that he had “posted videos and statements on Instagram where he talks about buying guns and in one of his Instagram posts the defendant says ‘Your Jew tactics will only backfire on you, you have no place on this earth, Jew [expletive], Jew mother [expletives]. A storm is coming to wipe you all out of our lives.’”
Then Chokr, who claimed to have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, lost his temper and started shouting and pointing at the camera. Thomas said that his microphone was muffled by the court during his outburst.
“I want the record to reflect that while the court has muted the defendant’s microphone, he appears to be yelling and pointing at the camera at the Oakland County Jail,” Thomas said. “And now he has removed his pants to show the court his backside.”
Attorney Duane Johnson stated that he intended to record Chokr’s defense in the case after the judge questioned the defendant’s mental state.
“You can go ahead and make a record, but he seems to be mentally ill, quite frankly,” Thomas said. “I don’t know why anyone would think it is appropriate to pull down his pants and show the court their behind during a court proceeding.”
On behalf of Chokr, Johnson suggested that a mental health evaluation “probably would be a good thing” but Thomas pushed back on the First Amendment argument.
“We are free to say whatever we want to say, but we are not free from the consequences,” Thomas said. “So if we are doing things that are unsafe, and we are infringing on other people’s rights, we don’t get to do and say anything we want to without the consequences of those actions. That’s where your client finds himself today.”
“He exercised his right, and I am exercising my right to give him a consequence for that. Nothing that any of us do in this life is without consequence,” she continued.
