The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Orange County(FL) Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon. She gets the award for the following.

Catherine Harrold can't have her two teddy bears in jail.

But that could change.

Her lawyer tried Thursday to convince a judge that the 45-year-old inmate -- who was deemed incompetent to stand trial last month -- needed her stuffed animals behind bars. She's one of nearly 250 mentally ill Florida inmates who are in county jails and are waiting for space in a state mental hospital.

For now, Orange Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon sided with jail officials who said the pink and blue bears would be a security risk.

Harrold was arrested in June on charges of drug possession and aggravated assault with a car.

Munyon told Assistant Public Defender Bill Sharpe that she would consider hearing testimony from doctors on the impact the bears have on Harrold's well-being.

Sharpe also plans to file a motion, requesting Munyon to reconsider sending Harrold, who hears voices and has dementia, to a state hospital that has nearly a three-month waiting list. He'll look into other alternatives, such as Harrold living with her mother in Pensacola and getting community treatment.

A hearing date has not been set.

Harrold's problems began a decade ago, when she suffered a head injury in a car crash. In the hospital, a stranger gave her two stuffed bunny rabbits she named Little and Big. She last saw them the night she was arrested.

Last month, the judge told Harrold that she could take Little and Big to the mental hospital with her. The bunnies are missing, but her lawyer gave two replacement teddy bears that are now at the heart of the court dispute.

State law requires inmates be moved to a mental hospital operated by the Department of Children & Families within 15 days after being found incompetent. As of Monday, Harrold was one of 18 in Orange County who had passed the deadline.

DCF officials say there is a critical shortage of beds.

Judges throughout the state have tried to force DCF to fix the problem. Some have threatened to fine the agency $80,000 and hold DCF Secretary Lucy Hadi in contempt of court.

This is ridiculous. Teddy bears are a security threat? Only in the mind of some loopy judge and an agency that can't take care of the mentally ill or abused children. Munyon is a disgrace who should go and do something more in line with her obvious brain power, like wash dishes at an IHOP. Its idiotic rulings like Munyon's that make Florida citizens not respect the bench for we question the sanity and common sense of the people serving there.


Orange County(FL) Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon is today's Knucklehead of the Day.

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