A Mississippi judge ordered an attorney to spend several hours in jail Wednesday after the attorney chose not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in court.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that Chancery Judge Talmadge Littlejohn told a court audience to rise and say the pledge. People in the courtroom said Danny Lampley of Oxford stood but did not say the words. Records show Lampley was booked into the Lee County jail at 9:40 a.m. and released about 2:30 p.m. on the judge’s orders.

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Lampley did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press. Littlejohn was not immediately available through his office in New Albany or the court administrator’s office in Tupelo.

The Daily Journal reported:

Chancellor Talmadge Littlejohn ordered Lampley jailed shortly after court began in Tupelo this morning. Eyewitnesses said Littlejohn asked the court audience to rise and repeat the pledge. Lampley rose but failed to vocalize the words to the pledge, an act he has done before, apparently to the judge’s consternation.

Both Chancellor Littlejohn and Lampley were back in court during the afternoon, the Daily Journal reported.