Anyone turning up at court under the influence of either drink or drugs will be remanded in custody, Sheriff Derrick McIntyre told Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Friday after suspicions over the sobriety of an accused.
Alexander Higgins, 42, appeared to be dozing in the public benches and, when called to the dock, the sheriff asked if had taken anything. He said he was on medication.
“I take a dim view of people who turn up in court under the influence. If you turn up in court next time in the same condition you will be sent downstairs [to the cells],” the sheriff warned.
Higgins, of Glebemill Street, Hawick is due to face trial by jury on a charge of being concerned in the supply of heroin between March 2011 and January 2012, and possession of diazepam at a house in Ramsay Road, Hawick.
His brother, Joseph Higgins, 45, of Havelock Street, Hawick, is also charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin, and shouting and making racist remarks to a doctor at Hawick police station on January 12, 2012.
Both men appeared on indictment and denied the allegations. They will stand trial by jury on April 22, with a first hearing on March 22.