Joshua Rouse’s mother was asked to leave court this morning after the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office discovered she snuck a cell phone to him.

While Patricia Rouse was not arrested, Superior Court Judge Alma Hinton gave her a stern warning about the matter.“Your son was searched and there was a cell phone found on him,” Hinton said. 

Hinton asked Mrs. Rouse whether her son’s attorneys had explained to her previously he could not have a cell phone.

She responded no, to which Sam Dixon, one of his attorneys, told her she had been advised he couldn’t have one.

“I just wanted a way to talk to my son,” Mrs. Rouse said. “I’m sorry, it was wrong.”

Halifax County District Attorney Melissa Pelfrey said her office and the sheriff’s office had gone out of their way to assure Mrs. Rouse had plenty of opportunities to meet with her son and provide them with as much privacy as possible during those meetings.

“It’s a slap in the face,” Hinton told Mrs. Rouse. “I don’t know of any case where this has gone to such great lengths to give you privacy and then you do something like this. It’s absolutely a slap in the face. I believe you did what you wanted to do.”