An Aledo man found in contempt of court during his jury trial in Mercer County Circuit Court and sentenced to 60 days in the Mercer County Jail. Judge Greg Chickris made that ruling late this morning against 43 year old Michael Paladino. Paladino was representing himself. He was standing trial on charges of obstructing justice, resisting arrest and a traffic offense of electronic communications device stemming from an August of 2018 arrest. Paladino was arguing the court had lack of jurisdiction in his case because he claims to be a sovereign citizen. After numerous verbal exchanges with Judge Chickris throughout the morning Paladino was eventually held in criminal contempt of court and sentenced to 60 days in jail. A mistrial was then declared and the case will be reassigned by the Chief Judge of the 14th Judicial Circuit.
