Mother of Drunk Driver in Deadly Crash Sent to Jail for Laughing in Court
A Michigan woman suffered serious consequences after she decided to start laughing and talking during the sentencing of her daughter for killing a man in a car crash while driving under the influence.
Detroit Judge Qiana Lillard kicked two people out of the room for laughing during the deadly DUI sentencing. Lillard was sentencing 25-year-old Amanda Kosal, who reportedly admitted she was drunk when she struck and killed 31-year-old father of five, Jerome Zirker, and severely injured his fiancée.
When Judge Lillard heard Kosal’s family members giggling in court while the victim’s family was reading impact statements, she couldn’t tolerate the disrespect.
“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,” said Lillard. She instructed the man out of court.
“Not in Courtroom 502. Not today and not any other day,” the judge declared.
Judge Lillard sentenced Donna Kosal to 93 days in the county jail. The mom later apologized to the judge and her sentence was reportedly reduced to one day in jail.
As for Amanda Kosal, she was sentenced to 3 to 15 years in prison.
A video of the the judge’s actions and Kosal’s mother being escorted out of court has since gone viral. Lillard later thanked the millions of people who watched and shared their feelings about the court proceedings.
