Appellant, an attorney, appeals a criminal contempt citation issued against him by the trial judge, before whom appellant was trying a medical malpractice case. The events which led to the contempt citation occurred during the second trial of the case, the first trial having been declared a mistrial by the judge. During the pretrial conference on September 15, 1989, the judge, after discussing with the attorneys their handling of the press, defined an area outside the jury room in which the jurors would be allowed access during the trial, and identified a cutoff point beyond which the attorneys were not to have any discussions with the press about the case. On March 5, 1990, during a recess, the judge held a settlement conference with the attorneys in his chambers. The court stated: “And let me also say, this is on the record. But this is a settlement conversation, as I see it, which means *229 it should not be published. This should not be in the paper. It’s fine to put this in the record so we have, for our purposes, a record of it. But this conversation, it seems to me, is not taking place in the courtroom for good reason, because this is not an open conversation and should not be broadcast in the Daily Report or anywhere else. If anybody has a disagreement with that, I’d like to hear it.” Appellant responded: “Fine.” The settlement conference concluded with the judge asking attorneys for both sides to confer with their respective clients and report back to him separately regarding their clients’ proposals for settlement. Approximately two hours later, during a meeting with the attorneys for both parties, the judge stated that he had received a report from his sheriff that while the judge was discussing settlement with attorneys for the defendants, appellant was having a discussion with the press in the presence of jurors, in the area which had been restricted by the court. When asked by the judge what the conversation was about and why it was being conducted in front of the jury, the following colloquy occurred between the judge and appellant: “[APPELLANT]: Your honor, I was unaware that we weren’t supposed to be standing in that area. The conversation was just general small talk. It didn’t have anything to do with the case. And I was very careful to see that no jurors could hear any of it. [THE COURT]: When you say the conversation didn’t concern the case, what do you mean? [APPELLANT]: Well, it was about mostly unrelated subject matters. I mean, they were interested in what was going on, and I said, well, you know, there were some settlement discussions going on, we’re not supposed to talk to you about it, period. Other than that, that’s about all that was said about the case.” Attorneys for the defendants informed the court at that meeting that they had received information that appellant was holding a press conference; that appellant mentioned certain testimony that had been excluded; that appellant discussed the RICO claims made in the lawsuit; and that appellant discussed those matters in the presence of jurors. Appellant responded that he told reporters settlement discussions were going on but that he could not talk about them; that he did not remember mentioning the RICO claim; that although he may have mentioned that a certain doctor’s testimony was excluded, he did not have any substantive discussion about any of the evidence; and that no juror heard anything that was said. The judge then interviewed the reporters privately, after which the following proceedings took place in open court: The defendants moved for a dismissal of the RICO claims pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-41 (b), on the grounds that appellant had failed to comply with a court order. Before the judge ruled on the motion, appellant filed with the court a dismissal without prejudice. The judge, after relating certain findings of fact, found appellant to be in direct criminal contempt of court and fined him $500.
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1. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in its summary adjudication of contempt because appellant’s conduct did not occur in the presence of the judge. A direct criminal contempt is one involving conduct committed in the presence of the court or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice and the court has the power to punish such contempt summarily and without a hearing. OCGA § 15-1-4 (a);
Martin v. Waters,
2. In his second enumeration of error, appellant contends that he was entitled to a hearing because the judge did not punish him immediately after the contumacious conduct. We disagree. Upon discovering the contumacious conduct, the judge, after hearing appellant’s version of the events, ordered a recess to speak with the reporters involved. When he returned to the courtroom that same afternoon, the judge rendered his decision. This is not a case where the court finds an attorney in contempt and delays the punishment until after the trial of the case. See
Dowdy v. Palmour,
supra;
In re Bryant,
3. In his third enumeration of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in not appointing another judge to preside over the contempt hearing. Since the record does not reflect that appellant’s contumacious conduct was directed toward the judge or that the judge reacted in such a manner as to become involved in the controversy (see Dowdy v. Palmour, supra), we find this enumeration of error to be without merit.
4. Even if we conclude, as appellant argues in his fourth enumeration of error, that the court’s orders were not sufficiently definite so as to find him in wilful violation of them, we cannot conclude that appellant’s untruthfulness to the court was not wilful and unintentional. We find that the court properly exercised its contempt power under OCGA § 15-1-4.
5. In his fifth enumeration of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in relying on the testimony of reporters in finding appellant guilty of contempt. Inasmuch as the judge cited specific examples of appellant’s untruthfulness which were committed directly in his presence, the record does not support appellant’s argument.
6. We further find that appellant’s actions in talking about the case and the settlement in the presence of jurors, while the trial was underway, and his subsequent untruthfulness with the court about his conversation created a “clear and present danger to orderly administration of justice. [Cit.]”
Garland v. State,
7. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in failing to make findings of fact and conclusions of law. However, findings of fact and conclusions of law are not required in criminal contempt cases.
PBJ Dev. Co. v. Holben,
Judgment affirmed on condition.