A North Carolina man found himself in jail for not wearing a mask in a courtroom.
Judge Charles Gilchrist of the North Carolina Superior Court found Gregory Hahn, 42, guilty of contempt of court for not following Gilchrist’s mask mandate. The judge is the only one within the courthouse that requires a mask, according to Clerk of Superior Court Renee Whittenton.
“You can go in any district courtroom without a mask, you can come into superior clerk court without a mask and the [district attorney’s] office without a mask, but with Judge Gilchrist he has a mandate that you must wear a mask,” Whittenton said.
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Hahn was one of 98 potential jurors present in court for juror orientation Monday. He claimed there were no signs within the courthouse about the mask mandate, nor was he alerted beforehand. Whittenton claimed jurors were advised about the mandate upon checking into the courthouse and offered a mask if they didn’t have one.
Gilchrist confronted Hahn about the mask mandate, and upon determining that Hahn was not willing to wear a mask, sentenced Hahn to 24 hours in the Harnett County Jail without bond.
“The irony of all this is the judge was talking to me without a mask,” Hahn said in a television interview. “If safety was such a concern, I go to jail, no mask requirements with inmates.”
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Harnett County reported 110 cases of COVID-19 this week, according to its Health Department.
