O'BRANNON v. State

812 P.2d 222, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 34, 1991 WL 85959
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedMay 24, 1991
DocketA-2704
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 812 P.2d 222 (O'BRANNON v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'BRANNON v. State, 812 P.2d 222, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 34, 1991 WL 85959 (Ala. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

COATS, Judge.

On April 25, 1988, Mary Anne O’Brannon was convicted of eighteen counts of criminal contempt. AS 09.50.010(5) and 09.50.-020. The criminal contempt charges were based on allegations that O’Brannon had violated the conditions of a Stipulated Order and Finding of Contempt signed on October 1, 1985. O’Brannon appeals from these convictions, arguing that several errors were made at trial, and that her sentence was excessive.

O’Brannon was in the business of producing telephone directories. In the fall of 1982, her business, the Alaska Directory Service, Inc., published a telephone directory of business listings. After publication of this directory, various Anchorage utilities sued O’Brannon in Federal District Court for copyright infringement. A stipulated order was signed in 1982 which prohibited her from producing or distributing any directories.

Despite the federal court order, the Consumer Protection Division of the Alaska Attorney General’s Office [“the Division”] received complaints that O’Brannon had collected advance payments for advertising in the 1983, 1984, and 1985 directories; these directories were never published. On August 29, 1984, O’Brannon entered an “Assurance of Voluntary Compliance” in which she agreed to make restitution to subscribers. When O’Brannon failed to comply with this assurance, the Attorney General’s Office filed a Complaint for In-junctive Relief and Civil Penalties, alleging violations of AS 45.50.471. Assistant At *225 torney General Robert E. Mintz signed this complaint.

On May 7, 1985, Superior Court Judge Milton M. Souter entered a Consent Judgment and Injunction. This judgment enjoined O’Brannon from soliciting or accepting any advance payments or deposits for directory advertising, unless the payments or deposits were immediately placed in a trust or escrow account and various other conditions were met. The injunction also required O’Brannon to refund deposits or advance payments made for advertising in directories which were never published; this restitution was to be administered by the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s Office.

On September 6, 1985, the Division filed a Supplemental Complaint for Civil Contempt. The state alleged that O’Brannon had violated the Consent Judgment and Injunction by soliciting and obtaining advance payments and deposits for future directory advertising, and failing to place these payments and deposits in a trust or escrow account. Assistant Attorney General Mintz signed this complaint.

Judge Souter entered a stipulated order and finding of contempt on October 1,1985. This order permanently enjoined O’Bran-non from: soliciting or accepting any advance payment or deposit in connection with any type of advertising or publication; participating or associating with any business or other activity which involves the solicitation or acceptance of advance payments or deposits for advertising or for any publication. The order also prohibited O’Brannon, for a period of five years, from soliciting or accepting any advance payment or deposit in connection with any product or service. The order required O’Brannon, for a period of five years, to notify the Division in writing within ten days of each change in any of her employment or business relationships or activities. She was also required to report to the Division at the end of each calendar year, for a five-year period, on her employment and business relationships and activities. O’Brannon was also ordered to immediately terminate all participation in or association with any directory business which was soliciting or accepting advance payments or deposits.

On February 20, 1986, Judge Souter ordered O’Brannon to pay restitution in the amount of $20,000 to reimburse directory advertising customers for advance payments made after May 7, 1985, to reimburse the State of Alaska for attorney and investigative fees of $16,536.50 and costs of $7,424, and to pay the State of Alaska civil penalties in the amount of $50,000.

The Division conducted an investigation of O’Brannon in which they allegedly discovered that O’Brannon was still running a directory business which solicited and accepted advance payments or deposits; O’Brannon called these payments and deposits “set-up fees.” The Division obtained a search warrant and conducted a search of O’Brannon’s business. They seized written business records and computer diskettes containing business records.

Based on evidence obtained through the Division’s investigation of O’Brannon and search of her business, the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office charged O’Brannon with eighteen counts of criminal contempt. Each count charged O’Brannon with violating AS 09.50.010(5) and 09.50.020, and stated that her contempt “defeated or prejudiced the state’s remedy.” Counts I through X charged O’Brannon with soliciting or accepting advance payments or deposits for phone directory advertising from ten different businesses. Count XI charged O’Brannon with participating in a business that solicited or accepted advance payments or deposits for phone directory advertising. Counts XII-XV charged O’Brannon with soliciting or accepting advance payments for travel guide advertising from four different businesses. Count XVI charged O’Brannon with participating or associating with a business which solicited or accepted advance payments or deposits for advertising in a travel guide. Count XVII charged O’Brannon with failing to provide the Division with documentation detailing the customers to whom she had made restitution for failing to publish past directories, and the amounts which *226 she had paid to each customer. Count XVIII charged O’Brannon with failing to file yearly reports, at the end of each calendar year, on her employment and business relationships and activities. In April of 1988, O’Brannon was convicted by a jury of the eighteen counts of criminal contempt.

O’Brannon first argues that Trial Judge Mark C. Rowland erred in allowing Assistant Attorney General Mintz to sit at counsel table with the District Attorney who was prosecuting the case. Mintz was the attorney in the Division who had initiated the civil suit against O’Brannon. Mintz had signed the complaint for injunc-tive relief and civil penalties of January 27, 1985; the stipulation for entry of consent judgment and injunction of April 30, 1985; and the supplemental complaint for civil contempt of September 6, 1985. Mintz had also brought the case to the District Attorney’s Office and asked that it be prosecuted. Mintz had drafted the pleadings.

Judge Rowland denied the defense motion to preclude Mintz as a witness. Defense counsel then asked Judge Rowland to preclude Mintz from sitting at counsel table, preparing exhibits, preparing documents, drafting pleadings, or otherwise acting as an attorney in the case. Judge Rowland ruled that Mintz could testify in the case and could remain in the courtroom. However, he ruled that Mintz could not “argue, advocate, question or perform any of the other functions that trial counsel generally perform.” Judge Rowland then instructed the jury that Mintz’s role was only as a witness and that Mintz was not participating as counsel in the trial.

A trial court’s decision on a motion to disqualify opposing counsel because he may be testifying as a witness will be reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Munn v. Bristol Bay Housing Authority,

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Bluebook (online)
812 P.2d 222, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 34, 1991 WL 85959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/obrannon-v-state-alaskactapp-1991.