When Judge Qiana Lillard heard giggles coming from the back of her courtroom during an emotional DUI hearing, she refused to sit back and ignore it.
As CBS reported, the mother of the drunk driver was thrown in jail after she was caught laughing while the victim's family read their impact statements.
While Kosal was able to walk away from the crash, the driver from the other vehicle, 31-year-old father-of-five Jerome Zirker, was killed in the crash, and his fiancée, 31-year-old Brittany Johnson, was severely injured.
Another charge of operating under the influence causing serious injury was dismissed by the judge.
She was sentenced to 3 to 15 years in prison.
That was when Lillard heard laughter coming from the back of the courtroom, and interrupted the victim's family in order to kick out the two people, a man and a woman, responsible for the inappropriate display.
The woman was Kosal's mother, Donna.
As she told the court,
“Whoever can sit here at a tragic moment like this and laugh and smile when somebody has lost a family member... In the entire time that Mr. Zirker’s sister was speaking, that clown — and that’s what I am going to call him, a clown — was sitting there smiling and laughing."
“Because if you don’t know how to act, you can go to jail," the judge said. "So leave.”
Donna, who was escorted out of the courtroom by a bailiff, was sentenced to 93 days in jail for contempt of court.
“This is a court of law, and these are very serious matters,” she explained to the remainder of Kosal’s family. “I understand you all are very upset because your loved one is going to prison — but guess what? She’s going to prison for the choices that she made. These people are here grieving, saddened because a senseless act took away their loved one, and you’re sitting here acting like it’s a joke?”
“Not in Courtroom 502," she continued. "Not today and not any other day."
Her sentence was then reduced from 93 days' jail time to one day, served.
On YouTube, the video has over 1 million views and thousands of comments from people who are stunned by Donna's inappropriate behavior.
"This is what lack of empathy looks like," one user wrote. "Kudos to the Judge for her quick action against this garbage woman."
"Now that's a judge," this user wrote. "Oh that was so satisfying to watch."
Another added, "Finally a SMART judge who's for the people of the victims. Way to go judge."
