Johnson Infuriates Judge By Slapping Lawyer's Behind; Gets 30 Days In Jail
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson headed to court Monday ready to strike a deal for violating his probation. But, before the plea deal could be completed, the judge in the case slapped it down and sent the former receiver to jail.
The original plea deal would have extended Johnson's probation for three months and he would have gone to 2 counseling sessions per week plus perform an additional 25 hours of community service.
However, during the portion of the hearing when Johnson was sworn in and responding to the questions from Judge Kathleen McHugh; Johnson made the mistake of slapping his attorney on the backside, like he was a teammate on the football field.
Judge McHugh was infuriated by Johnson's actions because everyone in the courtroom began laughing when Johnson did it. Judge McHugh rejected Johnson's plea deal because she said he was not taking the proceedings seriously.
The hearing began as planned and Judge McHugh said she wanted to see pictures of Evelyn Lozada's (Johnson's ex-wife) injuries from the domestic violence incident that got Johnson in trouble.
Johnson did apologize to the judge after the incident and said he meant no disrespect.
"It seemed like I'm not taking it serious when you lose it all," Johnson said. "When you lose everything you were a part of. It's serious. There's no jokes about it…No income coming in? Oh it's serious. This is your courtroom. There was no disrespect, no intent towards you and I apologize to you and everyone else in here."
But in the end, it was too little too late.
Judge McHugh sentenced Johnson to 30 days in jail for the probation violation.
"He is to be remanded into the custody of the Broward Sheriff's Office as a condition of his probation to serve 30 days in the Broward County Jail," Judge McHugh wrote.
On his way to jail, Johnson sent out a tweet reading, "Love me through the good and the bad because I'm gone love you regardless. See you in 30."
