Joe Francis is defying U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak’s decision to make him serve time for contempt of court charges by calling Smoak a “judge gone wild”.

Gee, Francis is original with his catchphrases, isn’t he?

Here’s a re-cap from The New York Post website:

The 34-year-old Francis, who makes an estimated $29 million a year through the videos of girls exposing their breasts, drew the contempt order Wednesday after lawyers for the women said Francis threatened them during negotiations.

Francis told The Associated Press late Thursday that Smoak “had lost his mind.”

“This judge has gone as far as to call me the devil and an evildoer,” he said. “It is a case of a judge gone wild.”

Francis’ attorneys appealed the order that would send him to jail; the court had not issued an opinion Thursday evening. Smoak denied a request by Francis to stay the order pending the appeal.

My question is this: Why wasn’t Francis placed on citizens arrest right then and there when they found him, instead of allowing him to go free so he can continue being generally obnoxious? He can breach court orders and insult judges via the media, refuse to turn himself in to the court, and just go about his day as per usual!

That’s the kind of freedom having loads of cash and being a celebrity can buy you. I wish I had that kind of leniency when the Transport for London were hunting me down for failing to pay my £10 ($20) congestion charge when I drove through London a while back.

Update by Celebitchy: Many of you have mentioned Claire Hoffman’s August, 2006 profile of Francis in the LA Times. She details an incident in which Francis plied an 18 year-old virgin with alcohol and then raped her on his tour bus. When Francis learned that Hoffman’s article would not be favorable toward him he made accusations to her editor that she tried to hit on him and then threatened her repeatedly. Multiple counts of abuse have been levied against Francis, who seems to threaten and intimidate anyone that he has a slight beef against. He’s a cunning manipulator and can turn violent quickly, according to the journalist, who talks about how he tried to get her to kiss him at one point but assaulted her, pressing her face up against the hood of a car while holding her hands behind her back, at another.

Pictures from Chicagoist, and Radar Online.