CNS - A lawyer spent two days behind bars last week after being ordered jailed by a Compton judge angry over his chronic tardiness, it was reported. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John J. Cheroske was so frustrated with Stephen Charles Hollingsworth arriving late—or sometimes not at all—that he threw him in jail to ensure the attorney would show up for court on time, the Los Angeles Times reported. The judge allowed Hollingsworth out briefly to defend his client at a hearing on a murder charge, marking what court officials say could be the first time that one jail inmate had been represented by another, The Times reported. Once the hearing was over, the defendant and his attorney were led back to the cells.

Hollingsworth spent last Monday and Tuesday in jail until Cheroske ordered his release Wednesday June 5, morning after a court hearing in which the attorney appeared wearing handcuffs and a yellow jailhouse uniform, according to The Times.

Court officials told The Times the judge’s actions marked the sixth time Hollingsworth had been cited for lateness, failure to appear in court and other strange behavior. Hollingsworth contends he was illegally jailed and manhandled by other inmates before he was housed on his own, The Times reported.

“It was a false imprisonment,” his lawyer, Manuel Eli Gonzalez, told the newspaper. “He may have been late, but I don’t believe that deserves a three-day hold in the County Jail with a bunch of known felons.”

Gonzalez told The Times that Hollingsworth, 41, was late because of knee and shoulder injuries suffered over the last two years while he was practicing taekwondo as he trained for the Olympics.

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