One Florida man was sentenced to six months in jail after streaming “Facebook Live” from court in Alachua County.
Twenty-four-year-old Jonathan Clyde Davis was found in contempt of court by Judge William E. Davis (no relation) after deputies caught him streaming to a Facebook page labeled “Hittmann Souljah”. The page has since disappeared and the videos are no longer up, but local news claims Davis took video inside and outside the courtroom where his friend Frederick E. Littles Jr was being charged with attempted murder.
According to a previous administrative ruling, the court “prohibits recording and broadcasting of court proceedings without the prior approval of the presiding judge.” Judge Davis gave Jonathan Davis an opportunity to explain his actions, but Jonathan claimed he was just recording audio to use with music that he wanted to make.
The judge didn’t buy it, but University of Law professor Kenneth Nunn said it is possible that Jonathan should have been held in “indirect” contempt instead of “direct” because the judge himself didn’t see the video. He cited a similar case where a man in 2012 had his conviction overturned because direct contempt could not be proven.
This won’t be the first time Davis has been in jail. In 2015 he was sentenced to 18 months for possession of MDMA, and in 2009 he was sentenced to a year and seven days for felony battery, burglary, and false imprisonment.