State v. Driscoll

555 P.2d 136, 89 N.M. 541
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1976
Docket10811
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 555 P.2d 136 (State v. Driscoll) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Driscoll, 555 P.2d 136, 89 N.M. 541 (N.M. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

OMAN, Chief Justice.

This case is before us on a writ of certiorari directed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, which reversed the conviction and sentence of defendant (Driscoll) for contempt of court and remanded with instructions to the district court to dismiss the information. State v. Driscoll, No. 2081 (Ct.App., January 27, 1976). We reverse the Court of Appeals, reverse the conviction and sentence, and remand the cause to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In its opinion, the Court of Appeals quoted from the transcript on appeal a portion of the recorded proceedings in the district court presided over by Judge Ryan. It was these proceedings which led to Judge Ryan’s directive to the court bailiff to take Driscoll to jail. This act by Judge Ryan in directing that Driscoll be taken to jail, if it constituted a summary adjudication of and sentence for contempt, as held by the Court of Appeals, necessarily concerned itself only with the conduct of Driscoll which preceded that adjudication and sentence. Thereafter, Driscoll continued to conduct himself in a manner which could clearly have been found to be contemptuous by the district judge (Judge Traub) who subsequently tried Driscoll upon the charges of contempt set forth in the information. Judge Traub found him guilty and sentenced him to ten days in jail. It was this judgment of conviction and sentence by Judge Traub from which Driscoll appealed.

In a short paragraph in which it made reference to some of this misconduct, the Court of Appeals apparently accepted the subsequent explanation by Driscoll that his removal of “his coat and tie” constituted a symbolic demonstration that he was from that point on a prisoner and not a lawyer. That court also stated that Driscoll, after referring to Judge Ryan as a liar and as being sick, “assumed a position of passive resistance and was carried to jail.”

We do not believe that the evidence can properly be viewed so restrictively on appeal. It is the duty of an appellate court, in reviewing a judgment of conviction, to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment, resolving all conflicts therein and indulging all permissible inferences therefrom in support of the judgment. State v. Lucero, 88 N.M. 441, 541 P.2d 430 (1975); State v. Vigil, 87 N. M. 345, 533 P.2d 578 (1975); State v. Gregg, 83 N.M. 397, 492 P.2d 1260 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 83 N.M. 562, 494 P.2d 975 (1972); State v. Parker, 80 N.M. 551, 458 P.2d 803 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 80 N. M. 607, 458 P.2d 859 (1969).

In his opening statement to the jury in a criminal case in which his client was charged with two counts of robbery, Driscoll, in referring to a lineup identification of his client by three victims of the robberies, stated that one such victim had failed to identify the client as the robber, the second had identified “the wrong man” (someone other than the client), and the third had identified the client as the robber, but, “two days ago signed an affidavit that she did not want to prosecute.” Thereupon, the following occurred:

“MR. HARRIS [prosecutor]: Your Honor, I move for mistrial—
“THE COURT: Mr. Driscoll—
“MR. HARRIS : —at this time.
“MR. DRISCOLL: That’s a question that—
“THE COURT: Mr. Driscoll, that has
“MR. DRISCOLL: I ask—
“THE COURT: That has nothing to do with this case.
“MR. DRISCOLL: It’s got everything to do with the case, that’s a subject for cross-examination and impeachment of the witness, Your Honor, and I intend to present evidence—
“THE COURT: Don’t argue with me, Mr. Driscoll. That has nothing to do with the case whatsoever. I will take under advisement the motion for mistrial. Continue.
“MR. DRISCOLL: I am not going to continue. I have nothing more to say to the jury, the evidence will reveal itself and I respectfully except to the threatening attitude and gestures of the court. I feel that I am being harrassed [sic] and I find it difficult under those circumstances to adequately represent my client. The Court is obviously laboring under extreme emotion and I, myself, am now laboring under extreme emotion. I think the Court is completely wrong in its ruling and I want that entered and made a matter of record. And I would ask for a recess at this time.
“THE COURT: No, I am going to declare a mistrial (to bailiff) and will you take Mr. Driscoll directly up to jail, please. The jury will be excused from—
“MR. DRISCOLL: You are going to do it by force and I mean by force. I AM NOT GOING!
(Mr. Driscoll removes coat, tie, throws glasses and pencil on the floor; walks toward the Bench; then walks over and stands at end of jurybox, leaning on end rails of jurybox.)
“MR. HARRIS: Your Honor, I ask that the jury be excused.
“THE COURT: The jury will be ex-used. Mr. Driscoll, get away from the jurybox.

(Jury departs the Courtroom.)

“THE COURT: Does the record adequately reflect the conduct of Mr. Driscoll?
“MR. HARRIS: Yes, sir.
“THE COURT: Does the record indicate that at the time he said that he was not going that he took off his tie and took off his coat and approached toward the Bench in a fighting attitude ?
“MR. DRISCOLL: That’s a lie and you know it’s a lie. You’re sick.
“THE BAILIFF (Emiliano Montoya): Okay, that’s enough, that’s enough, Mr. Driscoll.
“THE COURT: Mr. Harris, is that approximately what you observed ?
“MR. HARRIS: I really wasn’t watching, Your Honor, after he took off his tie and his coat; I know that he eventually ended up near the jurybox.
“THE COURT: He eventually ended1 up near the jurybox but he started with a motion towards the Bench. I can’t tell whether it is directed at me quite or not but it was in a combative attitude.
“MR. HARRIS: Yes, I cannot say that it was directed toward the Court but I think that it was directed toward the fact that he was not going to leave the Courtroom, that he would have to be taken by force.
“MR. DRISCOLL: Let the record reflect that without my coat and without my tie I approached the jurybox to grab some place to hold on to; I am not going voluntarily, I am going to be taken up by force.

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Bluebook (online)
555 P.2d 136, 89 N.M. 541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-driscoll-nm-1976.