Commonwealth v. Patterson et al., Appellants.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
July 2, 1973
308 A.2d 90 | 452 Pa. 457
J. David Bean, Assistant District Attorney, with him Stewart J. Greenleaf, Assistant District Attorney, William T. Nicholas, First Assistant District Attorney, and Milton O. Moss, District Attorney, for Commonwealth, appellee.
OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE ROBERTS, July 2, 1973:
Appellants-David Bridell, Kenneth Owens, and Frank Patterson-were found guilty of direct criminal contempt in a summary proceeding before Judge HONEYMAN of the Common Pleas Court of Montgomery County. Each appellant was sentenced to six months imprisonment to be served consecutively with sentences presently being served. Appellants’ motions for a new trial on the contempt charges were denied. We allowed leave to appeal, as though timely filed, and now affirm.
On February 15, 1972, appellants were scheduled for trial before Judge HONEYMAN on charges of riot and assault by a prisoner. At that time, after extensive examination by the court, appellants were permitted to dismiss their appointed counsel. Appellant Owens, who was permitted to proceed pro se, was also selected by the other appellants to represent them. See ABA Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Standards Relating to the Function of the Trial Judge §6.6 (Approved Draft, 1972).
“Now, I am not going to tell you that again. Now, I don‘t know what it will require for you to understand this fully but understand well that until such time as you have like individuals who represent our particular social and economic group, Blacks, per se, you‘re not going to conduct this. Now, if this requires whatever you want, you will have all that, plus. THE COURT: Mr. Oehrle, you may address the prospectivе panel of jurors. MR. OWENS: Let‘s leave. This is not- THE COURT: I will direct the court attendants to have the defendants remain in the courtroom. MR. OWENS: No, you‘re not going to direct- THE COURT: Remain in the courtroom, please. MR. BRIDELL: Take your hands off me- (Fight erupts in courtroom at 10:45 A.M.) (Defendants subdued.) 11:08 A.M. THE COURT: This is out of the hearing of the jury panel. I have directеd the defendants to
Immediatеly following the disruption, each appellant, individually, was brought before the judge and given an opportunity to address the court.1 The judge found each appellant in contempt of court “by reason of what is on the record, what has transpired in this
It is clear that appellants’ conduct constituted dirеct criminal contempt. In Knaus v. Knaus, 387 Pa. 370, 375, 127 A. 2d 669, 671 (1956), we said: “A direct criminal contempt consists of misconduct of a person in the presence of the court, or so near thereto to interfere with its immediate business, and punishment for such contempts may be inflicted summarily: Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 784, §§23, 24,
Appellants do not seem to challenge the fact that their disruptive conduct constituted direct criminal contemрt. Rather, relying on Mayberry v. Pennsylvania, 400 U.S. 455, 91 S. Ct. 499 (1971), they assert that they are entitled to a public trial before another judge on the contempt charges. In Mayberry, the United States Supreme Court held that, where a judge “becomes embroiled in a running, bitter controversy” and does not act until the end of the trial, “by reason of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment a defendant in criminal contempt proceedings should be given a public trial before a judge other than the one reviled by the contemnor.” Id. at 465, 466, 91 S. Ct. at 505.
The factors relied upon by the Supreme Court in Mayberry are not present in this case. The trial court,
Nor did the court, here, wait until the conclusion of the trial to act against the contemnors. As the record reveals, the judge immediately proceeded against each apрellant, individually. Such prompt action is approved in Mayberry: “He [the trial judge] could, with propriety, have instantly acted, holding petitioner in contempt. . . .” Id. at 463, 91 S. Ct. at 504.
In Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 343-44, 90 S. Ct. 1057, 1061 (1970), the United States Supreme Court said: “It is essential to the proper administration of criminal justice that dignity, order, and decorum be the hallmarks of all court prоceedings in our country. The flagrant disregard in the courtroom of elementary standards of proper conduct should not and cannot be tolerated. We believe trial judges confronted with disruptive, contumacious, stubbornly defiant defendants must be given sufficient discretion to meet the circumstances of еach case. No one formula for maintaining the appropriate courtroom atmosphere will be best in all situations. We think there are at least three constitutionally permissible ways for a trial judge to handle an obstreperous defendant like Allen: (1) bind and gag him, thereby keeping him present; (2) citе him for contempt; (3) take him out of the courtroom until he promises to conduct himself properly.”
More recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia observed: “. . . a conflict may exist in the case of summary conviction at trial-immediately after the allegedly contemptuous conduct has occurred. In such situations, it is clear that if the trial judge deems summary conviction necessary to preserve order in the courtroom and to protect the author-
In the circumstances presented by this record, the trial judge‘s response--to proceed summarily3 and not recuse himself-was constitutionally permissible. See In Re Chase, 468 F. 2d 128 (7th Cir. 1972); People v. Jashunsky, 51 Ill. 2d 220, 282 N.E. 2d 1 (1972); Commonwealth v. Snyder, supra. Indeed, the Supreme Court noted in Mayberry, supra at 465-66, 91 S. Ct. at 505: “It is, of course, not every attack on a judge that disqualifies him from sitting. In Ungar v. Sarafite, 376 U.S. 575, 84 S. Ct. 841, 11 L. Ed. 2d 921, we ruled that a lawyer‘s challenge, though ‘disruрtive, recalcitrant and disagreeable commentary‘, was still not ‘an insulting attack upon the integrity of the judge carrying such potential for bias as to require disqualification‘. Id. at 584, 84 S. Ct. at 847.”4
It is universally accеpted that the trial judge has the responsibility and authority to maintain in the courtroom the appropriate atmosphere for the fair and orderly disposition of the issues presented. In the judge is vested the power and authority to maintain the order and integrity of the judicial process. Manifestly, “[t]he only purpose of a criminal trial is to determine whether the prosecution has established the guilt of the accused as required by law, and the trial judge should not allow the proceedings to be used for any other purpose.” ABA Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Standards Relating to the Function of the Trial Judge §1.1 (Aрproved Draft, 1972).
It is obvious that the trial judge‘s function is best performed and the interests of the proper administra-
This is precisely the manner in which Judge HONEYMAN performed his judicial responsibilities.
Judgments of sentence affirmed.
Mr. Chief Justice JONES concurs in the result.
Mr. Justice NIX took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
DISSENTING OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE MANDERINO:
I must respectfully dissent.
Contempt of court is a crime.
In all criminal prosecutions, a person is entitled to his constitutional rights. The judicial branch of government cannot ignore the constitutional rights of citizens when the crime is contempt of court rather than any other crime.
Due process of law prohibits the conviction of any person before a tribunal in which one person serves as prosecutor, defense counsel, witness, judge, and jury. Due process requires an objective neutral tribunal. If a policeman were allegedly kicked by a person obstructing justice, we might call it contempt of the policeman. It would be constitutionally impermissible, however, to allow the policeman to conduct an on-the-spot-one-man-trial and impose punishment. If the President of the United Stаtes were obstructed in the performance of his executive functions, we would call it contempt of the President, but it would be unconstitutional to allow him to mete out punishment by snapping his fingers. If a member of the House of Representatives were obstructed in the performance of his legislative functiоn,
Why should we allow a judge (or Justice) to have a special privilege when the judicial function is allegedly obstructed? There is constitutional silence concerning any special judicial privilege which permits the judicial branch to deprive a person of constitutional rights because a member of the judicial branch is involved. Punishment for contempt of court without constitutional protections that exist for all other crimes is nothing more than the exerсise of raw judicial power. It is not the exercise of constitutional judicial authority.
Would we permit a person who is a witness to a crime to file a complaint, take the witness stand at the trial, receive immunity from cross-examination, get off the witness stand and jump into the judge‘s chair, make a final decision and impose punishment? Constitutional law prohibits such a practice. It does so for judges as well as all other citizens.
The special judicial privilege of punishing a person for the crime called contempt of court developed in Star Chamber proceedings in the early 1600‘s. An extreme use оf the special privilege occurred in 1631, when a convicted felon hurled a brickbat at the Chief Justice, missed, and was summarily dispatched by severing his right hand and nailing it to the gibbet before hanging him in the presence of the court. Patterson, A Proposal for Reform Providing “The Least Possible Power Adequate to the End Proposed,” 17 S.D.L. Rev. 41 (Winter, 1972).
We do not today summarily cut off hands and hang in the presence of the court but we should root out and eliminate completely every vestige of this privileged practice. The obstruction of justice, in any way, at any time, by any person, is a serious offense. We have, how-