He entered from the left side of the courtroom wearing clean, jail-issued khaki pants and shirt. His hands cuffed in front of him. Those cuffs were attached to a waist chain. His shackled legs kept his strides short.
Craig Jungwirth was making his first appearance in Broward County felony arraignment court.
The defendant faces myriad charges including cyberstalking and making obscene and harassing phone calls. He was brought in with a group of other defendants, and the proceedings were short and very by-the-book.
That was Friday. Monday was a different story.
Jungwirth was in misdemeanor arraignment court, and he was ready to play cat and mouse with the judge.
Judge Melina Brown asked him his name. In a very even voice, he asked to speak with the public defender in the courtroom. She asked him to spell his name. Again, he asked for a public defender.
Jungwirth filled out a form for a public defender. The judge noted he listed a place near Orlando as his residence. One of his accusers was in the room and quickly proved that the address listed was not his home.
Jungwirth said it was his family’s home where he lived, though he had not been inside for months. The home was actually sold in 2023.
He then gave the judge the name of a Washington, D.C., area residency.
At this point, Judge Brown was getting tired. She may reach out to the judge in his felony cases and recommend holding him without bond, currently at $20,000, because of his evasiveness and history of skipping court appearances.
As for the misdemeanor case, which is why everyone was there, prosecutors offered him a deal of 60 days in jail. Considering he’s already been in jail more than 40 days, that case would be finished by Thanksgiving.
Jungwirth declined and wants to go to trial.
He’s due back in court on the misdemeanor case in November, while the next date in the felony case is set for December.
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