Ex parte Reposa

541 S.W.3d 186
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 15, 2017
DocketNO. WR-86,973-03
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 541 S.W.3d 186 (Ex parte Reposa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex parte Reposa, 541 S.W.3d 186 (Tex. 2017).

Opinion

Motion for leave to file an application for an original writ of habeas corpus and request for bond denied.

Adam Reposa, applicant, is a licensed Texas attorney who has been confined in jail for over a month for contempt of court after he spoke disrespectfully to a county court judge and behaved inappropriately during a misdemeanor trial. In his current pleadings before this Court, applicant contends that the judgment of contempt is a nullity or must be reversed for two independent and alternative reasons. He contends that the judge who originally held him in contempt erred by failing to adhere to statutory and constitutional requirements pertinent to direct contempt. Alternatively, he argues that the judge conducting the contempt trial erred by denying him his right to a jury trial to which he was entitled because his six month day-for-day jail sentence is the equivalent of a one-year jail sentence that would ordinarily be served through two days of credit for every one day served in jail. In conjunction with this pleading, applicant renews his request that this Court order his release on bond pending an ultimate decision on the merits of this original habeas application. Today, this Court denies applicant's motion for leave to file his application and his request for bond. I respectfully disagree with this Court's resolution of this case for two reasons. First, as I said in my earlier dissenting opinion several weeks ago with respect to applicant's confinement *187under this contempt order, he is entitled to bond pending the resolution of his challenges. Applicant is not a flight risk given that he is an officer of the court and has continually appeared in multiple courts in an effort to seek relief from this contempt order, he is not a risk to the safety of the judges or community, and his continued confinement for the next five months will render moot his legal challenges that likely will not be resolved within that period of time. I, therefore, would immediately grant his request for personal bond pending the outcome of this original writ proceeding. Second, unlike this Court's decision that denies applicant leave to file, I would instead order applicant to file a supplemental brief within the next ten days explaining the details of litigation pending in other courts related to this contempt proceeding and addressing whether he has any other adequate remedy at law. Assuming that applicant would be able to demonstrate a lack of any other adequate remedy at law, I would file and set his case to consider his claims on their merits. I, therefore, respectfully dissent from this Court's decision denying the motion for leave to file an application for an original writ of habeas corpus and denying applicant's request for bond.

I. Background

Although the events at issue in this case have transpired over the course of less than a year, the procedural history is somewhat lengthy. My review of the procedural history includes the events leading up to and during the contempt of court hearing, applicant's arrest and efforts to obtain bond from multiple trial-level courts, his first request for relief in this Court, his actions in a Williamson County court, and his instant litigation filed in this Court.1

A. Events Leading Up to and During the Contempt of Court Hearing

On March 27, 2017, applicant was acting as defense counsel in a trial occurring in the courtroom of Judge Nancy Hohengarten of Travis County Court at Law No. 5. According to that court, applicant behaved disrespectfully towards the court in five instances during jury selection. Those alleged instances were: (1) applicant refused to come to the bench after being summoned by the court; (2) applicant continued to question the venire panel when the court was attempting to have a bench conference outside the hearing of the venire; (3) applicant continued to question a venire person after the court instructed the juror not to answer the question; (4) applicant stated within the hearing of the venire panel, "I want to show the people how hard it is to get a fair trial in this court and that's what I'm doing"; and (5) applicant spoke in a tone and tenor that was disrespectful when addressing the court. Based on this misconduct by applicant, Judge Hohengarten declared a mistrial, and she indicated that she was preparing to have applicant held in contempt of court. She stated that she would be "getting [applicant] the motion for contempt and [she would] be letting the presiding judge know so that ... a judge can be appointed to hear the contempt." She then stated, "I'm not taking you into custody. I'm just notifying you that I am going to have that drafted and delivered, Okay?"

*188Judge Hohengarten later issued a written order finding applicant "in direct criminal contempt of court for behavior and statements made in open court in the presence of a jury panel and the parties[.]" The order indicated that applicant had committed the five acts set forth above in contempt of court. Judge Hohengarten requested that another judge be appointed to hear the contempt matter.2

On April 4, Judge Paul Davis, sitting by assignment in Travis County, presided over applicant's contempt proceeding, and this summer, he had preliminary settings at which applicant failed to appear. According to the State, twice in June applicant failed to appear for a hearing on the contempt cause, and Judge Davis eventually issued a capias for applicant's arrest. Around this same time, applicant filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in Williamson County challenging the issuance of the capias because a sentence was never imposed directly by Judge Hohengarten. At some point, Judge Davis ordered a competency hearing and recalled the capias, but according to the State, applicant continued to fail to appear in court as required.

On September 11, with applicant present in court, Judge Davis heard evidence on the contempt complaint. Nine days later, Judge Davis found applicant guilty as to all five instances of contempt that had been described by Judge Hohengarten, and he sentenced applicant to six months' confinement to be served day-for-day as to each instance of contempt, with the sentences to run concurrently. Judge Davis made the following findings in support of the judgment:

1. Applicant's behavior reflected an "overall strategy to attempt to have members of the jury disrespect the law, the trial judge, the facts of the case and engage in jury nullification."

2. Applicant has previously been held in contempt of court in 2008, at which time applicant was sentenced to 90 days of confinement. See Ex parte Reposa , No. AP-75,695 2009 WL 3478455 (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. 28. 2009). Applicant's "contumacious conduct continues to this day."

3. Prior to the instant contempt proceeding, applicant posted two videos online, one on July 11 and one on August 9, which were disrespectful to the trial judge and the prosecutors.3

4.

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Related

In re Hesse
552 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
541 S.W.3d 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-reposa-texcrimapp-2017.