Dial J for judge? Telephone call catches court by surprise

Order never really left the court, but it was an unusual development Monday when a call came to the telephone at the bench of the judge presiding over Broward’s first appearance hearings.

“Is there music playing?” Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren asked as the desktop phone to her left began chiming.

The affable Lerner-Wren was hearing cases in what’s typically referred to as bond court. Broward holds such sessions twice-daily because people who are newly arrested must appear before a judge within 24 hours to have their bonds and potential release conditions set.

Occasionally, a judge will use the phone to call an attorney to inquire about representing a defendant, but having it ring during a session is practically unheard of.

Lerner-Wren, who was filling in on this day for the regularly assigned bond court judge, was hearing one defendant’s case Monday afternoon when the phone suddenly rang.

So, she answered it.

“Hello?” Lerner-Wren said softly as she leaned in while holding the receiver to her ear. “Who is this?”

It’s not clear who the person on the other end of line was or what they wanted, but the judge did let them know they were calling a courtroom as she asked if they were a member of the public.

Whatever the caller said seemed to reassure the judge, who held the phone away as she appeared to direct a question toward Assistant State Attorney Eric Linder.

“You can do this?” Lerner-Wren asked.

The judge politely told the caller the phone was for official business and said she had to return to work.

Before resuming the hearing, however, Lerner-Wren rhetorically asked, “Did you see that Curb Your Enthusiasm, it was a good one,” referring to the show featuring the iconic Larry David. “Remember the doctor’s office?” she asked, chuckling.

It may have been a reference to a 2007 episode when Larry David, with a cut over his right eye, used the doctor’s phone while alone — waiting in the office to be examined. The doctor, played by the avuncular Philip Baker Hall, caught him in the act and got into a verbal sparring match with the cranky David while repeatedly telling him, “You’re not supposed to use the phone.”

You’re not supposed to call the courtroom, either.