Lawyer Found Guilty of Contempt for Livestreaming Trial on Facebook

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Attorney Nicholas Somberg was found guilty of contempt of court by Roseville District Judge Marco Santia for livestreaming a trial in which a Michagan man tried to fight a fine received for warming his car up in his driveway one cold morning.

In the trial over the ticket, the city’s attorney argued that the law was put in place due to a public safety issue. Two cars similarly left open and running in driveways were stolen and one led to high speed chase. The other had 2 kids in it when it was stolen.

During that trial, two TV news cameras were livestreaming.

Somberg acknowkedged that his associate sitting behind him was livestreaming, but had only done so after asking the local media if it was permissible.

The judge said Somberg did not fill out a permission slip for the filming.