Reeves v. Moreland

577 S.W.2d 125, 101 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2423, 1979 Mo. App. LEXIS 3096
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 16, 1979
DocketNo. 39911
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 577 S.W.2d 125 (Reeves v. Moreland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reeves v. Moreland, 577 S.W.2d 125, 101 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2423, 1979 Mo. App. LEXIS 3096 (Mo. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

SNYDER, Presiding Judge.

In this habeas corpus proceeding, petitioners Leon Reeves and Martha Carter contest their convictions for indirect criminal contempt. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Robert Lee Campbell found petitioners willfully and deliberately violated a valid restraining order issued by him on June 6, 1977.1 Both petitioners were sentenced [127]*127to twenty days imprisonment in the custody of the St. Louis County Department of Welfare.

The conduct for which petitioners were found to be in violation of the restraining order occurred in connection with a strike by members of the United Steel Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 13889, against Hussmann Refrigerator Co., Inc. Petitioners were Hussmann employees and members of Local 13889; Reeves was the elected Recording Secretary of the Local and Carter a rank-and-file member.

On the morning of August 1,1977, 300 to 400 striking Hussmann Refrigerator employees gathered within 100 yards of Huss-mann’s chain-link fence in a demonstration against the company. Police officers from St. Louis County, Bridgeton and surrounding municipalities were called to the scene. The temporary restraining order and warnings that the demonstrators violating it would be arrested were read two or more times over a bullhorn or loud-speaker to the assembled crowd. Finally, an order to arrest the demonstrators was issued. Petitioners were among the approximately 100 persons arrested.2

Petitioner Reeves argues the evidence presented failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of criminal contempt. Petitioner Carter makes no challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting her conviction, but argues she was denied a fair and impartial trial in violation of her due process rights because Judge Campbell had personal knowledge, prior to the presentation of evidence, that she had actual knowledge of the restraining order.

The contempt convictions are affirmed, the writs of habeas corpus previously issued are quashed and the petitioners remanded to the custody of respondent.

LEON REEVES

Is there substantial evidence to support the finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Leon Reeves violated the restraining order?

Judge Campbell found Reeves had violated the temporary restraining order by:

1. picketing the property at a time when two other persons were picketing at an entrance to the Hussmann property;
2. blocking egress and ingress by his presence in the crowd of 300 to 400 persons;
3. seeking to coerce or intimidate Huss-mann employees from entering or leaving the plant by shouting, “Go home scabs”;
4. assembling in a crowd of 300 to 400 people within 100 yards of Hussmann’s chain-link fence; and
5. blocking egress and ingress by instructing pickets to keep walking and slow traffic.

Before discussing the evidence and the charges against Reeves, some of the principles applicable to appellate review of habe-as corpus and criminal contempt proceedings should be set out.

First, the elements of criminal contempt that must be proved are actual knowledge of the restraining order and willful conduct in violation of its terms. Ramsey v. Grayland, 567 S.W.2d 682, 686 (Mo.App.1978); Chemical Fireproofing Corp. v. Bronska, 553 S.W.2d 710 (Mo.App. 1977). Although a criminal contempt proceeding is sui generis [Osborne v. Purdome, 244 S.W.2d 1005 (Mo. banc 1951) cert. denied, 343 U.S. 953, 72 S.Ct. 1046, 96 L.Ed. 1354 (1952)], the state has the burden of proving the elements of criminal contempt beyond a reasonable doubt. Ramsey, supra, 686.

Second:
In a habeas corpus proceeding involving a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we do not review the record de novo, but must determine whether the [128]*128trial court’s findings are supported by the evidence. Ex parte Neal, 507 S.W.2d 674 (Mo.App.1974); Mechanic v. Gruensfelder, 461 S.W.2d 298 (Mo.App.1970). In making this determination, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the court’s judgment, giving consideration to all favorable inferences which reasonably may be drawn from the evidence. All facts and inferences to the contrary are to be disregarded. State v. Franco, 544 S.W.2d 533 (Mo. banc 1976). It is not our function to weigh the evidence where it is in conflict or to resolve issues of credibility; rather, we look to see whether there was substantial evidentiary support for the court’s findings. State ex rel. Girard v. Percich, supra [557 S.W.2d 25 (Mo.App.1977)]. Criminal contempt may be proved by circumstantial evidence so long as the facts are consistent with one another and with the hypothesis of guilt, and are inconsistent with a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Mechanic v. Gruensfelder, supra; Ex Parte Miles, 406 S.W.2d 107 (Mo.App.1966).

Ramsey, supra, 690.

Petitioner Reeves, as Recording Secretary of Local 13889, was named as a defendant in the restraining order issued by Judge Campbell. As Reeves concedes in his brief, “there is no question [but] that he had actual knowledge of the existence of the temporary restraining order.” Therefore, we proceed to the second element of criminal contempt — willful conduct in violation of the restraining order.

From midnight until 8:00 a. m. on August 1, 1977, Reeves served as one of three union “picket captains.” Their duties included keeping picket attendance records, being present for picket shift changes, visiting pickets on the picket line at the Huss-mann gates and bringing them refreshments. Although pickets served four hour shifts, Reeves and the other picket captains normally served eight hour shifts.

About 6:30 a. m. on August 1, Reeves received a call at union strike headquarters informing him that demonstrators were assembling across the street from the Huss-mann plant. (Reeves denied having any prior knowledge that a demonstration had been planned.) In response to the call he drove to the Hussmann plant but could not reach it because traffic had been stopped by the demonstration. He parked his car on the south side of St. Charles Rock Road, approximately 500 feet from the intersection of Taussig Road and St. Charles Rock Road, and walked toward Hussmann Gate No. 1, the scene of the demonstration. When he tried to cross over Taussig Road to Gate No. 1, he was stopped by police officers and told to stay on the west side of Taussig. He did so, and was arrested shortly thereafter while he was standing directly across from Gate No. 1 in the main body of demonstrators.

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Bluebook (online)
577 S.W.2d 125, 101 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2423, 1979 Mo. App. LEXIS 3096, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reeves-v-moreland-moctapp-1979.