Wilson v. Wilson

877 S.W.2d 271, 1993 Tenn. App. LEXIS 814
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 14, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 877 S.W.2d 271 (Wilson v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Wilson, 877 S.W.2d 271, 1993 Tenn. App. LEXIS 814 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

FRANKS, Judge.

Appellant appeals from a judgment in the Carter County Chancery Court judging him guilty of contempt pursuant to T.R.Cr.P. Rule 42(b).

Appellant was the attorney for Karen Wilson in a divorce action against her husband, Robyn Wilson. On January 29, 1992, the appellant appeared before a Trial Court Judge, presented a complaint and affidavit of Karen Wilson and obtained a temporary restraining order ordering her husband not to interfere with Karen Wilson’s “exclusive” possession of a 1991 BMW motor vehicle. At a subsequent hearing before another trial judge, it was determined that Karen Wilson did not have possession of the motor vehicle at the time the restraining order was obtained, and that Judge summarily found appellant in contempt and imposed ten days confinement as punishment for misrepresenting material facts to a Judge and abusing the Court’s extraordinary powers.

Within thirty days, the Trial Judge filed an order reciting that the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure 42(a) and 42(b) govern the charges against appellant, and reaffirmed his findings of fact and judgment as to contemptuous statements made in the Court’s presence as a 42(a) conviction but scheduled a subsequent hearing as to the alleged contemptuous statement the appellant had made out of court.

Appellant appealed and this Court on August 21, 1992, held that the appellant’s 42(a) conviction was invalid, as summary contempt proceedings under 42(a) may not be based upon extrinsic evidence. Appellant’s conviction was set aside and the cause remanded for a new trial.

The Presiding Judge of the First Judicial District requested the Presiding Judge of the Second Judicial District to designate a Second District Judge to hear the contempt charges, and the Presiding Judge of the Second Section appointed himself to hear the case. A trial was held on December 9, 1992, and the Trial Judge found the evidence did not support the 42(a) charges against appellant, but did find the appellant in contempt for drafting a complaint, affidavit and temporary restraining order and making representations which misled the Trial Judge into believing Karen Wilson had actual possession of the motor vehicle at the time the temporary restraining order was issued.

Appellant insists the second contempt trial in December of 1992 constituted double jeopardy. We cannot agree, the Rule under both the State and Federal Constitutions is that “in a case where the defendant seeks and obtains the invalidation of a judgment and dismissal is based on technical procedural grounds, there is no former jeopardy prob[273]*273lem in retrial.” State v. Campbell, 641 S.W.2d 890, 893 (Tenn.1982).

This Court reversed the appellant’s first conviction for contempt of court because extrinsic evidence was required to convict the appellant in the 42(a) proceeding, which was error.

In this regard, appellant’s first appeal to this Court only brought his 42(a) conviction before the Court. Accordingly, the subsequent 42(b) conviction could not constitute double jeopardy, since the elements of that offense were not identical to the 42(a) charges. Without this identity of offenses, double jeopardy is not a defense. Pryor v. Rose, 724 F.2d 525 (6th Cir.1984). The 42(a) charge consisted of misrepresentations the appellant allegedly made in open court, while in contrast, the 42(b) charges consisted of misrepresentations appellant allegedly made to Judge Brown out of court and on another occasion.

Assuming, arguendo, that double jeopardy attached to the original 42(a) trial, such jeopardy would not preclude the Trial Judge from trying appellant on the 42(b) charges. A more important reason that appellant may not rely on the defense of double jeopardy, is that the original 42(a) conviction was a nullity. A null judgment is not a basis for the defense of double jeopardy, regardless of the circumstances giving rise to its nullity. In Rivera v. State, 1 Tenn.Crim.App. 395, 443 S.W.2d 675 (1969), it was observed that “it is fundamental that a defendant is not placed in jeopardy in a void criminal trial.... Where the judgment in the first trial was a nullity, the accused cannot plead former jeopardy in bar of the second trial.” Id. at 677. More to the point is State v. Brown, 193 Tenn. 113, 244 S.W.2d 168 (S.Ct.1951), where the Trial Court had set aside the defendant’s conviction of house breaking sua sponte on the grounds that the defendant was not present at the time his attorney entered a plea of guilty, and judgment was entered. Id. at 170. Subsequently, the Trial Court reheard the case with the defendant present, and accepted the defendant’s plea of guilty. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the Trial Court’s initial acceptance of the defendant’s guilty plea by way of defendant’s counsel constituted double jeopardy. The Supreme Court, however, held that “where the judgment in the first trial was a nullity, the accused cannot plead former jeopardy in bar of the second trial.” As we noted in the appellant’s original appeal, that while the Trial Judge recited that appellant had made false and misleading statements in the Court’s presence, the truthfulness or falsity of such statements could not be determined without reference to another witness’s testimony. Accordingly, the judgment of conviction under 42(a) was a nullity on its face.

Next, appellant insists that the Trial Judge neither had jurisdiction nor was competent to try appellant for contempt. The Trial Court’s jurisdictional authority derives from T.C.A. § 16-1-102(4) which provides “every court has power ... to control, in furtherance of justice, the conduct of its officers, and all other persons connected with the judicial proceeding before it, and every matter appertaining thereto.... ” Moreover, T.C.A. § 16-1-103 provides that “for the effectual exercise of its powers, every court is vested with power to punish for contempt, as provided for in this Code.”

The evidence establishes that appellant misrepresented facts to a Judge for the Chancery Court of Carter County. Accordingly, Carter County Chancery Court possessed the power to enforce standards of conduct upon appellant and to punish appellant for contempt for a violation of those standards. Sitting as a Chancellor in Carter County by interchange, the Trial Judge was clothed with the power to exercise the Carter County Chancery Court’s statutory jurisdiction over the appellant. T.C.A. § 17-2-202 provides that “where a judge is incompetent to try any cause pending in his circuit, and the same cannot be transferred by change of venue to some other circuit, it shall be the positive duty of the circuit judge of any adjoining circuit, ... to interchange with such incompetent judge and try such cause or causes_” T.C.A. § 16-2-502

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
877 S.W.2d 271, 1993 Tenn. App. LEXIS 814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-wilson-tennctapp-1993.