Barrie, Ont. man summoned to contempt hearing for vulgar outburst directed at judge

Dylan Zona is pictured outside the courthouse in Barrie, Ont., on Wed., Aug. 14, 2024. (CTV News/Mike Arsalides)

Warning: This article contains language that may upset some readers.

A Barrie man was ordered to appear in person for a contempt of court hearing Wednesday for repeated courtroom outbursts and vulgar language directed toward a female judge.

Dylan Zona entered the Barrie courthouse with his mother by his side to address his behaviour during a prior virtual court appearance in which he told the judge to shut her "wh--e mouth."

Justice Cecilia Applegate began the hearing by providing Zona with a copy of the transcript from the court proceedings conducted over Zoom two weeks ago.

Zona, who confirmed he has not hired a lawyer, was assisted during the hearing by experienced duty counsel Jeannie Mills, who said Zona was prepared to acknowledge the disrespect and disruption he showed the court constituted contempt of court and was aware of the penalties available to the judge.

The Crown called Zona's comments repulsive and asked him to be jailed for his disrespectful conduct and disrupting the trial scheduling court proceedings.

Zona then read a statement to the court, offering an apology for his behaviour on the Zoom call. "I will not stand here and make a bunch of excuses for my outbursts and foul language. I understand that it was inappropriate."

Zona told the court he has been dealing with a great deal of stress and frustration trying to handle the case by himself. He is accused of several counts of criminal harassment and is currently living with his mother in Barrie.

"I can assure you it will not happen again," he told the court. "My outbursts will not happen again as I am going to find a lawyer to deal with this so I no longer have to go through the stress and potentially risk offending the court and creating more charges for myself. "

Crown Attorney Miriam Villamil-Pallister said Zona had previously contacted the Crown's office and used "expressive language" and then made a derogatory, profane post on Facebook about a female court clerk.

The Crown told the court Zona's Facebook profile picture contained the same vulgar language he used against the judge in court that day.

"That's only more aggravating in terms of his culpability and his behaviour," said the Crown.

Applegate then addressed Zona before making her ruling.

"The conduct you displayed on the last date is offensive, but the least of my concerns is you offending me," she said. "That wasn't a problem. The problem was we were trying to set a trial date for you so that you could have your matter heard."

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Zona has been wearing an ankle monitor while out on bail. He is accused of criminal harassment against four people between 2022 and 2024, including two women.

"You launched into expletives," said the judge. "I do find that your conduct was contempt in the face of the court. You told me to 'shut my wh--e mouth.' I do not know how you think that those words could be ever be used."

The judge continued admonishing Zona and his behaviour during the virtual proceedings and noted his behaviour seemed to have improved due to being brought to court in person.

"Your conduct continuously disrupted the proceedings for a period of time and set a tone in that courtroom that other people had to be witness to and ought not to have witnessed," she added. "I suspect that sometimes people who are behind their computers don't realize the importance of their behaviour, their words and their attacks.

This type of behaviour has to stop, and if it is extending beyond the courtroom doors it has to stop. I don't have jurisdiction to order you, but if you're committing criminal offences, that will be somebody else's jurisdiction."

Applegate then purged the contempt by way of his apology.

"I hope you meant what you said today. If you are posting these things that the Crown has asserted you are posting, it undercuts some of what you said today."

Zona left the Barrie courthouse with his mother and told CTV News he felt good about the result of the hearing.

"Didn't get in trouble. Everybody should respect the justice of the peace," Zona said, then responded to his use of vulgar language while addressing the female jurist, saying, "It's Canada. It's a free country. Freedom of speech, right? Sometimes, you know, we get angry, and we'll say things maybe we don't mean, but at the end of the day, we all have the right. We have a mouth, but you've just got to watch it sometimes."

Within about an hour of the court proceedings, Zona made several celebratory video posts on Facebook.

"Make me famous because there ain't going to be no conviction," he said in one post. "There wasn't a conviction today for the contempt. There was no conviction for me missing court - failure to appear. There's going to be no conviction for the harassment."

On Wednesday, a Michigan judge handed a man 558 days in jail for a profanity-laced tirade where the defendant interrupted court proceedings, saying, "Kiss my a--" and "F--- you.

The allegations against Zona have not been tested in court. His next appearance is scheduled for mid-September to confirm trial dates set in November.