SAN FRANCISCO -- A California appeals court says a judge should not have sentenced a lawyer five days in jail and fined him $2,500 for being unprepared for trial.

Defense attorney Tim Pori, who is representing Andrew Toon Wong in an Oakland double-murder case, told the judge on the day trial was to start that he wasn't ready because he was busy preparing for another murder trial.

But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carrie told Pori he had been given enough time to prepare and he was ordered to jail and fined.

The San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/NpDesQ) says the 1st District Court of Appeal overturned the contempt ruling because the judge didn't warn Pori earlier that he was facing jail time and a fine if he wasn't prepared.

Wong's trial is still pending.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com