United States v. Terry

41 F. 771, 14 Sawy. 424, 1890 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110
District Court, N.D. California·Decided March 24, 1890·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Ross, J.

The defendant, by the indictment in this case, is charged with resisting the United States marshal for this district in the execution of an order made by the United States circuit court, in open court, and in the presence of the defendant and of the marshal, directing that officer to remove the defendant from the court-room by reason of her gross misbehavior therein, consisting of loud, boisterous, and insulting language by her addressed to the circuit justice, then presiding in said court, and then engaged in the determination of a cause then pending therein. In his opening statement to the jury, the district attorney stated, what is the undoubted fact, that at the time of the alleged execution of the order, and of its alleged resistance by the defendant, it had not been put in writing, nor had there been any entry of it in the minutes of the court. Being an oral order, it is urged for the defendant that it is not embraced by section 5398 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, upon which the indictment is founded; and therefore that, upon the statement of the district attorney, there can be no conviction under the indictment, and the court should therefore now direct a verdict of not guilty. It is not denied by defendants’ counsel that the alleged conduct of the ■ defendant constituted a contempt of the court for which she could have been, and in fact was, legally punished, and that the order for her removal from the court-room was a valid order, which the marshal was bound to execute; but their claim is that the section of the statute upon which the indictment is based does not make the resistance of any oral order a crime. The section reads as follows:

“Every person who knowingly and willfully obstructs, resists, or opposes any officer of the United States, in serving, or attempting to serve or execute, any mesne process or warrant, or any rule or order, of any court of the United States, or any other legal or judicial writ or process, or assaults, beats, or wounds any officer or other person duly authorized in serving or executing any writ, rule, order, process, or warrant, shall be imprisoned not more than twelve months, and fined not more than three hundred dollars.”

The section is not a new one. It was originally enacted April 30,1790, (section 22, 1 St. at Large, 117,) and was in existence many years before there was any statute defining contempts. It meant precisely the same thing, when carried into the-Revised Statutes, that it meant when enacted in 1790. The first statute defining “contempts” was that of March 2, 1831, (4 U. S. St. at Large, 487,) which was a restriction upon the power of the courts to punish such offenses, and which provided “that the power of the several courts of the United States to issue attachments, and inflict summary punishments for contempt of court, shall not be construed to extend to any cases except the misbehavior of any person or persons in the presence of the said courts, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, the misbehavior of any of the officers of the said courts in their official transactions, and the disobedience or resistance by any'officer, of the said courts, party, juror, witness, or any other person or persons, to any lawful writ, process, order, rule, de[773]*773cree, or command of the said courts.” By the second section of the act of 1831 it was provided “that if any person or persons shall, corruptly, or by threats or force, endeavor to influence, intimidate, or impede any juror, witness, or officer in any court of the United Stales, in the discharge of his duty, or shall, corruptly, or by threats or force, obstruct or impede, or endeavor to obstruct or impede, the due administration of justice therein, every person or persons so offending shall be liable to prosecution therefor, by indictment, and shall, on conviction thereof, bo punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both, according to the nature and aggravation of the offense;” thus making the acts therein defined a crime.

The first section of the act of 1831 was carried into the Revised Statutes as section 725, and its second section was therein substantially embodied as section 5399. There are many a.ets that constitute a contempt of court, and also a crime, under the statute defining crimes. Two cases that recently arose at Los Angeles furnish very good examples, — Ex parte Cuddy and Ex parte Savin, both of which are reported in 131 U. S. 280, 267, 9 Sup. Ct. Rop. 703, 699. In Cuddy’s Case, for an attempt to tamper with a juror, he was cited to show cause why ho should not he adjudged guilty of a contempt of court, and upon a hearing of the matter was adjudged guilty of contempt, and sentenced to imprisonment for six months. For precisely the same act he was subsequently indicted by the grand jury under that provision of the statute making it a crime to attempt to tamper with a juror, was tried upon the indictment, and convicted and punished. In Savin’s Case, for an attempt to intimidate and then to bribe a witness, he was cited to show cause why ho should not bo adjudged guilty of contempt, and, upon a hearing of the matter, was adjudged guilty of contempt, and sentenced tp imprisonment for one year. For precisely the same act he was subsequently indicted by the grand jury under that provision of the statute making it a crime to attempt to intimidate or bribe a witness, and is yet to be tried upon the indictment. Wherever the statute makes an act that constitutes a contempt also a crime, the fact that the party has been adjudged guilty of contempt, and punished therefor, is no bar to a prosecution under the criminal statute, and is to be considered only in so far as it is just and proper to consider it in imposing punishment for the crime, in the event of a conviction thereof. The sole question, therefore, now for decision, is whether the word “order,” found in section 5398 of the Revised Statutes, and originally in the act of 1790, is to bo limited to a written order.

Undoubtedly, in judicial proceedings, an “order,” as contradistinguished from a “judgment,” is often defined as one reduced to writing, and entered in the records of the court; and such is the purport of many of the cases referred to by counsel for the defendant. But that is by no means saying that such only is an order. There must, in the nature of things, he an order of a court made before it is, or can be, written out in the records of the court by the clerk. When written out, the writing becomes a record of the order, and is evidence of it. Orders are almost daily given to the marshal concerning matters to be per[774]*774formed in the presence of the court, and they are as constantly executed before being written out. Indeed, many of them are never reduced to writing at all. Yet there can be no doubt of their validity. Now, the language of the statute in question is broad enough to include all valid oral orders. The natural, ordinary meaning of the word includes written, as well as unwritten, orders, and there is no reason in the policy of the law, or in the nature of things, for excluding unwritten orders. Indeed, the contrary is true. There is just as much reason and necessity for making it an offense to resist the execution of a lawful unwritten order, brought distinctly and authoritatively to the notice of the offending party, as for making it an offense to resist the execution of one in writing.

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United States v. Terry, 41 F. 771, 14 Sawy. 424, 1890 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110 (N.D. Cal. 1890).

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