State v. Echols

660 P.2d 607, 99 N.M. 517
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 15, 1983
DocketNo. 5865
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 660 P.2d 607 (State v. Echols) 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. Echols, 660 P.2d 607, 99 N.M. 517 (N.M. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

WALTERS, Chief Judge.

During a children’s court proceeding, Echols, the guardian of a child alleged to be in need of supervision, was held in contempt and sentenced to serve five days in jail.

He argues four issues on appeal:
1. That the time for taking an appeal was tolled because the contempt was criminal;
2. That the children’s court was without authority to enjoin defendant from certain conduct and to enforce the order using the power of contempt;
3. That, even if the court had such authority, it is not exercisable against one who is not a formal party to the proceedings; and
4. The court’s use of injunctive power, if existent, was clearly erroneous because not exercised in accordance with N.M.R.Civ.P. 66, N.M.S.A.1978 (1980 Repl.), dealing with restraining . orders and injunctions.

A fifth issue, listed in the docketing statement but not briefed, is abandoned. State v. Vogenthaler, 89 N.M. 150, 548 P.2d 112 (Ct.App.1976). We affirm.

It is necessary to state some underlying facts for an understanding of the appeal.

On March 24, 1982, a petition was filed alleging the child to be in need of supervision because of past instances of conduct, including his running away and physically battling with and disobeying Echols. A copy of the petition was served on Echols.

On April 6 the court issued an order restraining Echols from visiting the child without prior court approval or from removing the child from the county. A hearing was set for April 12 on whether to make the order permanent. Service was made on Echols on April 8.

At the hearing on April 12, Echols was present and represented by counsel. Adequate notice to Echols was acknowledged, as was the propriety of a restraining order, but Echols sought to obtain visitation and, perhaps, an order for joint counseling for himself and the child. The child, on the other hand, said that he did not want any association with Echols. Echols, although denying that he struck the child, and having explained an incident of biting the child, testified that he was willing to abide by a restraining order.

When the hearing concluded, the court ordered that the injunction be made permanent and carefully explained to Echols that he was not to contact the child by any means or in any manner.

On April 20, the children’s court attorney petitioned for an order to show cause why Echols should not be held in contempt for following the child, photographing him, observing him through binoculars, and intercepting the vehicle in which he was riding. The matter came on for a hearing on April 21. Following testimony, the court found that Echols had so conducted himself. However, because the permanent injunction ordered after the April 12 hearing had not been reduced to writing and because the restraining order had only prohibited “visiting” the child, no punishment was imposed. Instead, the court proposed to recess the hearing, during which time it would prepare a specific injunction, and it explicitly informed Echols regarding what he was not to do, to all of which Echols agreed. The written injunction, received later that day by Echols, prohibited, among other things, “telephoning, contacting or in any manner at any time being in the vicinity of Mary Bird [the person with whom the child was living] or John Doe,” “[e]ngaging in any action or conduct . . . aimed or directed at John Doe or Mary Bird,” “[aggravating, vexing, harassing, [or] molesting . .. John Doe or Mary Bird,” and communicating with social service employees in an effort to contact Doe or discuss the case.

On May 10, the children’s court attorney petitioned for a contempt citation, alleging Echols’s violation of the April 21 order. At a hearing on May 11, the State proved that Echols had made phone calls to Mary Bird, to a social worker, and to the operator of a shelter home; that he gave a social worker a letter from himself to the child; and that he parked at the child’s school with a message in his car window for the child. The court found Echols in contempt, and ordered Echols to turn himself in at noon the next day to serve a five-day sentence.

On May 19 the court filed a Minute Entry in the case file, noting that it had been brought to his attention that Echols had written what could be construed as a suicide note on May 11. The court thereupon had issued an order and warrant on the same date to take Echols into custody for a mental evaluation. Echols escaped from the hospital the following day and fled the jurisdiction. In the normal course of events, on June 22, the court adjudicated the merits of the CHINS petition. As part of its order on that adjudication, the court barred contact between Echols and the child. We dismissed Echols’s appeal of that order. In the Matter of Doe, State v. Echols, No. 5866 (N.M.Ct.App., filed September 23, 1982).

On July 15, Echols moved to reconsider the contempt sentence, offering an apology to the court. Following a hearing, the court denied the motion to reconsider; Echols then filed a notice of appeal from the May 12 judgment of contempt.

1. Timeliness of the Appeal.

The notice of appeal was filed more than two months after the entry of the contempt judgment. If the contempt was criminal, the rules of criminal procedure apply. Lindsey v. Martinez, 90 N.M. 737, 568 P.2d 263 (Ct.App.1977). N.M.R.Crim.P. 54, N.M.S.A.1978 (1980 Repl.Pamph.), provides that the time for taking an appeal is tolled when the trial court fails to advise the defendant at sentencing that he has the right to appeal. There was no such advice given at that time in this case.

The traditional distinction between civil and criminal contempt is stated in State v. Greenwood, 63 N.M. 156, 315 P.2d 223 (1957):

The fact that the state is a party to a contempt proceeding is not the conclusive factor in determining whether it is a criminal or civil proceeding. * * * The major factor in determining whether contempt is civil or criminal is the purpose for which the power is exercised. * * * Where the primary purpose is to preserve the court’s authority and to punish for disobedience of its orders, the contempt is criminal. Where the primary purpose is to provide a remedy for an injured suitor and to coerce compliance with an order, the contempt is civil. The polar concepts are “punitive” versus “remedial.”

Id. at 159, 315 P.2d 223.

The state relies on Niemyjski v. Niemyjski, 98 N.M. 176, 646 P.2d 1240 (1982), and State ex rel. Dept. of Human Services v. Rael, 97 N.M. 640, 642 P.2d 1099 (1982), to urge that Echols was held in civil contempt.

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Bluebook (online)
660 P.2d 607, 99 N.M. 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-echols-nmctapp-1983.