When Tristan Ellis, a notorious burglar, showed up in front of Australian Judge Dean Mildren on March 29, 2004, it was the third time that year he had been arrested. The judge was amazed that Ellis had been released on bail for the third time in a year, even after flagrantly ignoring a court-imposed curfew. Judge Mildren said he was “absolutely staggered” that any judge would grant bail to anyone with that kind of a record, and he indignantly demanded, “Who is the idiot who did that?”

The clerk had to tactfully tell the agitated judge that Mildren himself was the idiot judge.