Allen v. Smith, 1919
| Decision Date | 19 December 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 1919,1919 |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
| Parties | John Sidney ALLEN v. Robert G. SMITH, Warden. |
Peter Forbes Langrock, Middlebury, for plaintiff.
Alan Cheever, Montpelier, for defendant.
Before HOLDEN, C. J., and SHANGRAW, BARNEY, SMITH and KEYSER, JJ.
The petitioner seeks his release from the House of Correction at Windsor, Vermont, by this writ of habeas corpus directed to Robert G. Smith, the Warden of said institution. The petitioner is now confined in the House of Correction by virtue of a mittimus from the Clerk of the Addison County Court for a term of not less than one year, or more than two years for contempt of the Addison County Court, issued on October 27, 1967.
On March 3, 1965, a divorce libel was filed in the Addison County Court by Stella B. Allen against John Allen, the petitioner here. On January 17, 1966, the Addison County Court issued a Decree of Divorce in the above cause which provided, among other things, that this petitioner should pay the sum of $25.00 per week for the support of his minor children.
On September 6, 1967, the libellant in the divorce action filed a petition for contempt in the Addison County Court alleging that the petitioner was in arrears on his support payment. Hearing was held by the Addison County Court on the contempt petition on September 26, 1967, and on the next day an order issued from the Addison County Court in which the petitioner was found to be in arrears on his support payments and finding the petitioner in contempt of court.
After a finding as to the amounts then due from the petitioner in support payments and fees, the order directed the petitioner to make payments of $35.00 per week to the law office of Conley and Foote in Middlebury. The order further provided that 'in the event that said payments are not made as ordered and upon an affidavit to that effect being filed with the Clerk of this Court, the Clerk because of such contempt in arrears shall issue a mittimus confining the said John Allen to a term of not less than one year or more than two years in the House of Correction at Windsor.'
On October 27, a month after the issuance of the order, an affidavit was filed with the clerk of the Addison County Court by the attorneys for the libellant in the divorce case, alleging that the petitioner had failed to comply with the order. Upon the filing of the affidavit, and on the same day, a mittimus was issued by the clerk of the ...
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Russell v. Armitage
...proceedings, which may involve petitioners confined for reasons completely unrelated to "serious crimes." See, e.g., Allen v. Smith, 126 Vt. 546, 237 A.2d 354 (1967) (petitioner found in civil contempt and incarcerated for failure to make child support payments, without opportunity to purge......
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McDaniel v. McDaniel
...imprisonment for civil contempt is improper where the contemnor is given no opportunity to purge himself of the contempt. See Allen v. Smith, 237 A.2d 354 (Vt.1967); Knaus v. Knaus, supra, 127 A.2d at 674; Duell v. Duell, 85 U.S.App.D.C. 78, 178 F.2d 683, 14 A.L.R.2d 560 (1949); Sullivan v.......
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Spabile v. Hunt, 143-75
...of the appellee and was not adopted as a means of preventing defendant from committing offenses against the public. Allen v. Smith, 126 Vt. 546, 547, 237 A.2d 354 (1967); In re Sage, 115 Vt. 516, 517, 66 A.2d 13 (1949). We accept the proposition that the inability without fault to obey an o......
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Krochmalny v. Mills
...[like the nonpayment of a purge order], the contemnor is entitled to be heard on the facts relating to this event." Allen v. Smith, 126 Vt. 546, 548, 237 A.2d 354, 355 (1967). ¶ 11. The "decisive characteristic of [incarceration for] civil contempt" is the ability of the contemnor to "purge......