On second thought, Judge Thorne…

Man who claims allergies would keep him from performing shelter service has about-face with fines pending ‘District Court Report’ By Coretta Allen Everyone wanted one final visit with Judge Fred Thorne in District Court in West Memphis it seemed, before the beginning of the new year.

On Monday morning, the courtroom was packed with the usual suspects from the County Jail.

Judge Thorne had 15 felonies and 16 misdemeanors to deal with before the holidays.

‘Two Men and a Truck’ Two defendants on the docked seemed to pick the wrong place to visit over the holidays. Both said they had moved away from the area but ran into a little during a visit for Christmas.

One was charged with robbery. He said he had moved to Norfolk, Virginia. The other said he had moved to Dallas but had come back to Southland to pick up his identification.

He had been barred from there several months ago.

Both were given fines and court costs to pay.

‘Switcheroo’ One man, a mechanic, was charged with driving with bogus tags.

“I work on cars,” the man told the judge. “My tags were out, so I just took the tags off one of my customer’s car and put them on mine.”

He was charged $250 plus costs and handed a two-day jail sentence.

‘An Alergic Reaction’ One defendant was charged with theft by deception from an incident occurring at Southland Casino Racing.

He tried to add a higher bet after the dice had been rolled.

“They have more cameras in the casino than I have in this courtroom,” Judge Thorne told the man.

In addition to being barred from Southland, he was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. After finding out that the community service would be performed at the West Memphis Animal Shelter, the young man told the court clerk that he was “alergic to animals.”

Judge Thorne then changed the sentence to a $500 fine plus court costs, at which point the man then quickly told the court that on second thought, he had animals at home and would be able to work at the animal THORNE

shelter after all.

‘The Katt Williams Special’ “Good morning, judge,” the next young lady before Judge Thorne said.

“Good morning,” said the judge. “You’re charged with criminal trespassing at a hotel.”

“I was with my boyfriend,” she explained. “Is he here?” asked Judge Thorne.

“No, sir,” the woman admitted.

“You have a ‘Katt Williams Special,’” the judge said. “He has no job, no car, and no house. He’s not here and he didn’t get you out of jail.” The woman nodded.

“You need to get you somebody else,” he told her. She agreed.

“Thank you, sir,” she said. Judge Thorne had some advice for her.

Said the judge: “Don’t go back to that hotel for New Year’s Eve.”