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Justin Boudin, 27, has been told he can expect a sentence of 120 days in jail for the assault to which he pleaded guilty at Ramsey County District Court in St Paul, Minnesota.

Falling into an argument with a 59-year-old woman at a bus stop, he became very aggressive and shouted abuse at her. When she nervously took out her phone to call the police, Mr Boudin sought to resolve the situation by hitting her in the face.

Then, when a 63-year-old man intervened and tried to restrain him, the enraged Boudin, who was holding a hard document file, moved into phase two of his conflict resolution strategy. He smashed the man with the file and left the bus stop.

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Clearly, rage had got the better of Boudin as he abandoned the file at roadside. As the file bore his name, it didn’t take police long to trace him. The file had been an effective weapon because of the copious notes it contained. In what subject had he been so industrious? It was Mr Boudin’s homework file for the anger management course to which he was travelling when he became infuriated.

Sentencing will take place in May. Clearly, Mr Boudin will have to put his homework to better use in the meantime if he is to get any clemency from the court.

This is not the first case in which anger has got the better of someone who was supposed to be demonstrating something else. In 2001 at the Royal Courts in London, Andy Covey was representing himself in a case before Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice. As the case began, Mr Covey quickly stripped to his underpants, then began to make his submissions. A security officer was called but before Mr Covey could be ejected, he took off his underpants and screamed a lewd comment at the Bench. He then shouted furious abuse at the Lord Chief Justice and threw a jug of water over him. The Lord Chief showed noble restraint, imposing no punishment. He simply dismissed the case. So Mr Covey never got the chance to finish his representation. He had been in court to persuade the judge to overturn an earlier ban on him bringing any more actions as he’d been legally classified as a vexatious litigant.

Professor Gary Slapper is Director of the Centre for Law at The Open University

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