Going to court without face mask gets Oregon man arrested and jailed, officials say

A Sweet Home, Oregon, man was arrested after he didn’t wear a face mask to his court appearance and tried to leave after the judge said the mask was required, media outlets report.

John Kulbeth went to municipal court for a traffic charge on Wednesday, and after a court clerk said he needed to wear a face mask, he refused and stood in court with his daughter, The Statesman Journal reported.

“When I checked into the clerk’s window, the clerk promptly told me, ‘Well you need to have a face mask.’ I was confused and said, ‘Well I don’t and I’m not going to because I have enough breathing issues as it is.’ She goes, ‘Well the judge is going to disagree with that,’” Kulbeth said in an interview on the Lars Larson radio show.

Judge Larry Blake saw that Kulbeth wasn’t wearing a mask and said he would hold him in contempt of court if he didn’t put one on, Kulbeth said on the radio show.

“I said, ‘I have enough respiratory issues as it is but I’m more than willing to come back another day,’ and he didn’t like that idea,” Kulbeth said. “So finally I said, ‘Fine, I’ll just leave.’”

Kulbeth told The Statesman Journal that he was discharged from the Army for breathing problems a decade ago and told the judge that he would leave. He was arrested by Sweet Home Police Chief Jeff Lynn, who said that the judge issued a warrant for his arrest, according to the publication.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced that people in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Hood River, Marion, Polk and Lincoln counties would be required to wear face coverings in public, with exceptions for “those with a medical condition that prevents them from using a face covering or children under the age of 12,” KATU reported. Sweet Home is in Linn County.

Ray Towry, Sweet Home city manager, confirmed to KGW8 that Blake asked Kulbeth to wear a mask and he refused.

“[Blake] said, ‘You need to wear a mask,’ and again [Kulbeth] refused,” Towry told the station. “The judge said, ‘Well you don’t really have a choice,’ essentially. And Mr. Kulbeth said, ‘Well then I’m just going to leave,’ and he left.”

Kulbeth said he was arraigned in jail, with another court date scheduled for July 22.

“He said, ‘When you come back on July 22, if you’re not wearing a face mask or you don’t have a doctor’s note saying you’re not legally required to wear a face mask, you’re going to go to jail again,’” Kulbeth told the radio show. “He said you’re going to go to jail again and you face 30 days.”

Citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, the Oregon Health Authority recommends that people wear face coverings in public and in businesses.

More than 2 million people have been infected with COVID-10 and more than 124,000 people have died in the U.S. as of June 26, according to Johns Hopkins University.

This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Going to court without face mask gets Oregon man arrested and jailed, officials say."