Don't let your cell phone go off in Herman Sloan's courtroom. You'll be sorry if you do.

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Sloan, an Atlanta Municipal Court judge, held two men in contempt of court recently after their cellphones rang, just minutes apart, while court was in session at the downtown Atlanta courthouse. He put both men in the jury box and finished the cases on his docket before doling out identical sentences to the men: a $200 fine or 10 days in jail.

Both men tried to get out of it, apologizing to Sloan and explaining how their phones went off despite earlier warnings from a court officer.

The first phone sounded in the courtroom around 9:19 that morning.

"Whose cell phone?" Sloan asked, according to video footage of the day's events, viewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Curtis Freeman, who was in court for a ticket for driving without a driver's license, was asked to stand up.

"Have a seat in the jury box," Sloan told him.

About 10 minutes later, Deshawan Cherry's phone interrupted the court. He joined Freeman in the jury box.

"Does anybody else want to do 10 days?" Sloan asked.

At the end of the session, Sloan brought Freeman, 27, and Cherry, 26, up to the podium, one at a time, to let them have their say.

Talking softly and tripping over his words, Freeman told the judge that he was late to court and didn't hear the initial cell phone announcement.

"But I want to give my deepest apologies to the court," he said. "I never wanted to disrespect the court in (any) way."

Cherry, in court for a speeding ticket, claimed his phone was turned off.

"I don't know why it went haywire," he said.

Cherry said he couldn't afford to spend 10 days in jail. "I'm the head of a household. I'm a young entrepreneur. I have a business to run."

Both men paid the fines rather than spend time in the Atlanta City Jail, spokeswoman Gayle Middlebrook said.

Neither the men nor the judge could be reached for comment on the June 19 arrests.