[Insert here a joke that my wife would not find at all funny.]
Am I right, guys? Ha!
So, anyway: Israel Silva of Lovell, Wyoming took a plea deal on several charges related to a high-speed, alcohol-fueled police chase after he was caught in a burglary. District Court Judge Steven Cranfill accepted the arrangement and sentenced Silva to 6 to 10 years in prison. But, first, despite any possible legal problems, Judge Cranfill performed Silva’s wedding in the same courtroom. C.J. Baker writes in the Powell Tribune:
“There will be no, ‘You can kiss the bride,’ or whatever they say when people get married,” said Israel Silva’s defense attorney, Sarah Miles, before her client’s impromptu Wednesday wedding in Park County’s District Courtroom.
In fact, there were few of the usual marriage traditions in the hastily organized ceremony.
While a detention deputy was trying to determine whether the inmate’s wedding had been cleared by jail supervisors, District Court Judge Steven Cranfill entered the courtroom and wed Silva and his 19-year-old bride.
With the groom clad in the Park County Detention Center’s standard orange jumpsuit and shackles — and the bride required to stay about 15 feet back to comply with the jail’s no-contact rules — they exchanged vows and were pronounced man and wife in a roughly one-minute ceremony.
It was witnessed by around a half-dozen of the newlyweds’ family and friends, some court officials and a couple of the people whose property Silva damaged during an August crime spree. The crime victims were there to testify to the monetary damage caused by Silva as he is disputing the amounts.
Immediately after the pronouncing the marriage, Cranfill directed the couple to retake their seats, and Silva’s sentencing hearing began.
-via AP | Unrelated photo by Brian Turner