Reality show judge Joe Brown arrested

The star of the television show Judge Joe Brown has been arrested and charged with five counts of contempt of court in Tennessee, court officials in Memphis said on Monday.

Shelby County Juvenile Court officials said the 66-year-old Brown was sentenced to five days in jail after causing an outburst on Monday in a child support hearing. Brown is running in the Democratic primary for Shelby County district attorney general.

Magistrate Judge Harold “Hal” Horne charged the former TV judge with contempt of court, said Dan Michael, chief magistrate judge of the Shelby County Juvenile Court.

“He darn near caused a riot in the courtroom, he had people so inflamed,” Michael said of the former TV judge.

Neither jail officials nor juvenile court officials knew whether he had retained a lawyer. WREG-TV was reporting that Brown had been released from jail.

The former TV judge was representing a woman who had been brought in on a warrant in a child support case, Michael said. Brown, he said, was yelling and repeatedly challenging Horne’s authority and even addressing his comments to a crowd of people inside the courtroom.

Brown’s nationally syndicated TV show was cancelled last year.