This is the kind of courtroom battle we rarely see: A district attorney is taking on a county judge for some questionable courtroom conduct that seemed to put a price tag on an 18-year-old accused of inappropriate sexual touching of a young girl at "$1 a touch."

The judicial feud is ongoing in Allegheny County, where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. is planning to report Common Pleas Senior Judge Lester G. Nauhaus for this eyebrow-raising exchange from a hearing for the 18-year-old accused of inappropriately touching a young girl.

From Post-Gazette.com:

"Fine," Judge Nauhaus responded to Assistant District Attorney Jeff Tisak. "I'm going to give him a 90-day postponement. He has to do community service. And he has to pay a $3 fine. How many times did he touch?"

"I'm going to say about six times, maybe," the victim responded.

"A $6 fine," the judge said.

Tisak interrupted him:

"It is just highly inappropriate to tell a young girl that inappropriate touching is worth a dollar a time," the prosecutor said.

"What do you want me to fine him?" the judge asked. "He doesn't have any money."

"I understand that," Tisak replied. "That's not the point. I don't care if the fine is zero dollars. It's highly inappropriate to tell a young girl that ..."

"All right. It's zero dollars. Ninety days. No contact. Twenty hours of community service.

"I feel badly for the victim. I really do," Judge Nauhaus continued. "But there really isn't much I can do."

When contacted by the Post-Gazette, which published a detailed story on the judge's conduct here, Nauhaus defended his method for arriving at an appropriate penalty in the case:

"I have to find some way of punishing," he said. "It was obvious he had done something wrong. They came before me with no suggestion," he added of the prosecutor.

"This is an absolutely troubled child. These cases are very difficult."

So where do you come down on the judge's questionable courtroom conduct?

Tell us in the comments.