Snoring Judge Awards Drug Traffickers A Retrial

 6 October, 2008

According to the Evening Standard, a snoring judge, whose snorts were so loud they left the jury giggling and lawyers trying to wake him, has resulted in two men winning a retrial.

Judge Ian Dodd fell asleep during the trial of the two drug traffickers, who claimed in their appeal to the High Court that they could not have had a fair hearing because he dozed off so often.

Three High Court Judges, who remained fully awake to hear the men's arguments, agreed and ordered a retrial.His sleep periods became longer as the trial of Rafael Cesan and Ruben Rivadavia proceeded, with members of the jury visibly distracted and, at times, amused.

Court officials and lawyers sometimes loudly dropped documents in a bid to wake the snoring judge.

In his appeal evidence, Cesan said the judge's snoring was disruptive when he was being cross-examined.

Crown prosecutor Geoffrey Bellew swore an affidavit referring to occasions on which the judge appeared to be asleep.

It was revealed after the men's trial that Judge Dodd suffered from sleep apnoea, a condition which brings on pauses in breathing during the night, the disturbed sleep resulting in daytime tiredness and fatigue.

Among lawyers, he became known as Judge Nodd.

For the full story go to: judge sleeps

And for further amusement at the expense of the great upholders of the legal profession, here's one lawyer who pulled off a distinguished performance after turning up to court blotto...