Municipal Court Judge Emery Toth was reprimanded last month for violating the New Jersey Code of Judicial Conduct by "speaking disrespectfully and intemperately to a litigant" and for abusing his contempt power by throwing the litigant in jail after he responded.  The litigant had escalated matters, though, by using certain well-known gestures and that time-honored salute, the "raspberry."

The defendant, a cab driver named Esmanuel Buldoni (a.k.a., oddly, "Luis Martinez"), had been charged with three traffic violations.  He was in prison at the time of his arraignment, possibly because he had failed to show up for a prior court date, and so the exchange took place over a video link to the courtroom.  After Buldoni pleaded not guilty, he and the judge got into a dispute over why exactly Buldoni was in prison at the time.  After a short exchange, Judge Toth ended the argument.  "I don't want to have an Oprah Winfrey conversation with you," he said.  "All right? . . . I'll give you a trial date next week.  See you around.  Goodbye."

According to Toth, Buldoni then made the "raspberry" sound and gestured with his middle finger in a way that Toth said he interpreted as meaning "kiss off."  The kiss-off does not seem to have been a big deal, but the raspberry was not to be endured: