Inmate Hurls Expletive At Sentencing Judge
JACKSON (WWJ/AP) - A Jackson County Circuit Court judge had a few choice words of his own after a state prison inmate he sentenced uttered an obscene remark in his courtroom.
James Whorton had received more than 200 misconduct citations while behind bars and was before Judge John McBain, the Citizen Patriot in Jackson reported Friday.
Whorton, 33, is in prison for 15 to 30 years for armed robbery convictions in 2000 out of Wayne County.
He pleaded guilty in June to assaulting a prison employee in. Prosecutors said urine was thrown on two guards.
"Your institutional record is among the worst I've ever seen," McBain told Whorton at Thursday's sentencing hearing.
Whorton then made his comment to McBain, which brought a response from the judge.
"Save it for the big house, tough guy," McBain said.
Corrections officers walked Whorton from the courtroom. He is being housed in a correctional facility near Ann Arbor.
McBain tacked three to 15 years onto Whorton's current sentence for the assault conviction while in prison. This upset Whorton, who directed the obscene comment ("suck my ----") at the judge and threatened the prosecutor with death.
Whorton has "enormous" mental health issues, and problems occur when he fails to take his medication, defense attorney Alfred Brandt said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
