State v. Case

667 P.2d 978, 100 N.M. 173
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 12, 1983
Docket6080
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 667 P.2d 978 (State v. Case) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Case, 667 P.2d 978, 100 N.M. 173 (N.M. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

WOOD, Judge.

Case was found to be in contempt of court and sentenced therefor. His appeal raises questions concerning the trial court’s authority to summarily adjudicate the contempt and concerning procedural requirements for such an adjudication. We discuss: (1) authority for summary adjudication; (2) the number of contempts; (3) punishment; (4) right to counsel; (5) defenses; (6) the propriety of the trial court adjudicating the contempts; and (7) disposition.

Summary Adjudication

Case was convicted of murder and criminal sexual penetration in the first degree. The victim was Nancy Mitchell; Case testified in his own defense. He was represented by attorney Mitchell. He was sentenced to penitentiary terms of life and eighteen years, to be served consecutively.

Worley was also charged with crimes in which Nancy Mitchell was the victim. Although we are not informed of the charges against Worley, there is no issue as to the relevancy of questions addressed to Case in the Worley trial.

Case refused to answer ten questions in the Worley trial; he was summarily found to be in contempt for his refusal to answer.

Case contends that a summary adjudication of contempt was improper. He asserts that summary contempt proceedings are limited to situations where it is necessary to maintain order in the courtroom in order to control disruptive activities. He asserts that his refusal to answer questions did not disturb the deliberative atmosphere of the courtroom and, thus, the trial court lacked authority to proceed summarily. He relies on cases which involved disruptive activities, see Matter of Klecan, 93 N.M. 637, 603 P.2d 1094 (1979). He disregards eases involving a refusal to answer after the trial court instructed the witness that the witness was required to answer.

In State v. Sanchez, 89 N.M. 673, 678, 556 P.2d 359 (Ct.App.1976), we cited United States v. Wilson, 421 U.S. 309, 95 S.Ct. 1802, 44 L.Ed.2d 186 (1975), in support of our statement “that a refusal to answer questions in the presence of the court is a proper matter to be dealt with summarily[.]” United States v. Wilson states:

The refusals were contemptuous of judicial authority because they were intentional obstructions of court proceedings that literally disrupted the progress of the trial and hence the orderly administration of justice. Yates v. United States, 227 F.2d 844 (CA9 1955). Respondents’ contumacious silence, after a valid grant of immunity followed by an explicit, unambiguous order to testify, impeded the due course of Anderson’s trial perhaps more so than violent conduct in the courtroom. Violent disruptions can be cured swiftly by bodily removing the offender from the courtroom, or by physical restraints, Illinois v. Allen, supra [397 U.S. 337, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353]; see Ex parte Terry, 128 U.S. 289 [9 S.Ct. 77, 32 L.Ed. 405] (1888), and the trial may proceed. But as this case demonstrates, a contumacious refusal to answer not only frustrates the inquiry but can destroy a prosecution. Here it was a prosecution; the same kind of contumacious conduct could, in another setting, destroy a defendant’s ability to establish a case.
The face-to-face refusal to comply with the court’s order itself constituted an affront to the court, and when that kind of refusal disrupts and frustrates an ongoing proceeding, as it did here, summary contempt must be available to vindicate the authority of the court as well as to provide the recalcitrant witness with some incentive to testify. [Id. 421 U.S. at 315-316, 95 S.Ct. at 1806.]

Number of Contempts

In calling Case as a witness the prosecution sought, and the trial court granted, “use immunity” to Case in connection with his testimony at Worley’s trial. See State v. Romero, 96 N.M. 795, 635 P.2d 998 (Ct.App.1981); compare United States v. Wilson. In signing the order, the trial court remarked that the grant of immunity was unnecessary because Case “does not, in the Court’s opinion, have a right against self-incrimination on any matter that he testified to previously.”

After answering some background questions, Case refused to answer when asked if he knew Worley; “I’m not going to say anything until I get my lawyer .... ” The trial court told Case that he had no right to remain silent, that Case was ordered to answer the question, that each refusal to answer would be a “direct criminal contempt”, and that the sentence for each refusal would be consecutive, not only to the penitentiary term imposed after his trial, but that each contempt sentence would be consecutive.

Case then admitted that he knew Worley and had known Nancy Mitchell, and testified to events on the evening of December 31, 1981 and January 1, 1982, including going to the Juggernaut Game Room at 2:30 p.m. on January 1 and staying there six-to-eight hours. He refused to answer (on the basis of privilege against self-incrimination) when asked, “Where did you go when you left?” and “Who did you leave the Juggernaut with?” These were the first two findings of contempt.

After refusing to testify about the night Nancy Mitchell died and being held in contempt the third time, there were various proceedings out of the presence of the jury, which included a speech to the court by attorney Mitchell about Case’s constitutional rights. After Case conferred with attorney Mitchell, Case began using a standard response as to why he refused to answer. Most of the responses went to procedural matters but the essence was clear: “I refuse to testify in this case ... regarding the Nancy Mitchell homicide.”

The other seven findings of contempt arose in the context of Case being asked about his testimony at his trial and his refusal to answer.

Case and the Attorney General agree that the ten refusals to answer, for which Case was held in contempt, should be viewed as one contempt because the questions were all directed to Nancy Mitchell’s homicide, and Case refused to testify about the homicide. We agree; however the question was phrased, Case refused to testify about the homicide. We do not reach the point of considering whether there would have been more than one subject of inquiry and, thus, more than one contempt if Case had testified to some of the homicide events. Having refused to answer all questions concerning the homicide, there was but one subject of inquiry and one contempt. State v. Urioste, 95 N.M. 712, 625 P.2d 1229 (Ct.App.1980).

Punishment

In ordering Case to answer, the trial court informed Case that the punishment for a refusal would be a one-year prison sentence for each refusal.

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Bluebook (online)
667 P.2d 978, 100 N.M. 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-case-nmctapp-1983.