Fields v. US, 00-FM-342.

• Decision Date: 21 March 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-FM-342.,00-FM-342.
• Citation: 793 A.2d 1260
• Parties: Brian O. FIELDS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

793 A.2d 1260

Brian O. FIELDS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 00-FM-342.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued November 21, 2001.

Decided March 21, 2002.

Robert Athanas for appellant.

Joseph W. Clark, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Kenneth L. Wainstein, United States Attorney at the time the brief was filed, and John R. Fisher, Mary-Patrice Brown, and John K. Han, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before STEADMAN, SCHWELB, and REID, Associate Judges.

SCHWELB, Associate Judge:

On January 27, 2000, the judge presiding over a hearing on an application for a civil protection order (CPO) summarily held Brian O. Fields, the respondent in the CPO proceeding, in criminal contempt of court for disobeying the judge's repeated orders not to look or stare at one of the petitioners; the judge viewed the staring as potentially intimidating. On appeal, Fields contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his contempt conviction. In the alternative, Fields argues that summary contempt proceedings were not warranted. We reverse.

I.

This case arises out of a domestic dispute involving Fields, his former girl-friend, Tyanna Weedon, and Tyanna Weedon's mother, Felicia D. Weedon. Fields rented a room in the home of Felicia D. Weedon, and he embarked on a romantic relationship with his landlady's daughter. The relationship allegedly became violent.

On January 10, 2000, Tyanna Weedon and Felicia D. Weedon each filed a petition for a civil protection order against Fields. Tyanna Weedon alleged that Fields had physically assaulted her on a number of occasions, that he had threatened to kill her, and that he had confined her in his apartment for days at a time. Felicia D. Weedon alleged that Fields made harassing telephone calls and visits to her residence and had threatened to "fuck her up" and to "beat [her] ass." On January 10, 2000, Judge Wendell P. Gardner issued a temporary protection order (TPO) in each case which prohibited Fields, inter alia, from abusing, threatening, or harassing the petitioners, and from contacting them by telephone, in writing, or in any other manner. Fields was also ordered not to come within 100 feet of either Ms. Weedon's residence or place of employment. A hearing on the petitioners' applications for full-fledged CPOs was set for two weeks later.

On January 24, 2000, the two petitioners and respondent Fields all appeared pro se before Judge Reggie B. Walton. Prior to the commencement of the hearing, Fields approached Tyanna Weedon in a hallway outside the courtroom and began to talk to her and to hold her hand. Fields was arrested by a deputy United States marshal for violating the TPO.¹ The deputy marshal informed the court that he had discussed this incident with a representative of the United States Attorney's office and that Fields would be charged with contempt of the TPO.

When the hearing began, the parties identified themselves, and the judge, obviously concerned about the possibility of intimidation,² immediately addressed the respondent:

THE COURT: Sir, sir. Don't look at them. You're just going to get yourself in more trouble now.

After inquiring whether Fields wished to proceed with a hearing or, instead, to consent to the issuance of the CPOs, the judge interrupted his own inquiry and again directed Fields to "[q]uit looking at" the petitioners. Fields stated that "I'm listening to you, your Honor." Preliminary matters proceeded, but soon the judge again observed Fields staring at Tyanna Weedon:

THE COURT: What do you keep looking at that lady for? How many times [have] I got to tell you not to do that?

The judge recessed the hearing until after lunch, and he ordered the deputy marshal to "step [Fields] back," apparently because Fields was under arrest for violating the TPO. Following the lunch break, Felicia D. Weedon took the stand. Her testimony had barely commenced when Fields violated the judge's order again by staring at Tyanna Weedon, who was seated in the back of the courtroom. The judge again ordered Fields to stop looking at Tyanna Weedon—the judge's fourth such order:

THE COURT: I don't know if you understand what I've said to you before or not. But you have one more time to have me see you look at that lady again, and I'm holding you in contempt of court. I'm telling you, don't look at her.

Mr. Fields did not reply, and Felicia D. Weedon continued her testimony. A few minutes later, the judge had still another occasion to address the respondent:

THE COURT: You are held in contempt of court. There must be something wrong with you. Either you don't hear well or there's something wrong in your head that's not working right. Because I keep telling you not to look over there and I just saw you look over there again.

Fields claimed that he had been looking at the back of the room, not at Tyanna Weedon, but the judge did not credit this response. After a brief exchange, the judge repeated,

THE COURT: [T]his morning when I told you on several occasions not to look at [Tyanna Weedon], you looked at her anyhow. And my staff that was out in the audience and could see what was going on ... said that twice after I told you [not to look at her] you looked over at her and you said I love you. . . .

I told you not to talk, not to look at her. You have an order that has already told you to have no contact with her. And you're still looking at her talking about you love her. I mean right here in the courthouse. . . . You're held in contempt of court.

However, concerned that the respondent was acting irrationally, the judge ordered that Fields undergo a mental competency evaluation. The judge explained that he was "going to have to delay this proceeding because—I don't know—if you're that. . . defiant . . . in spite of my saying what I've got to say, you just [aren't] going to listen, or whether there's something wrong with your head." When Fields responded "No, Your Honor," the judge stated that "Something's wrong. I'm going to have you talk to a psychiatrist to see if there's a problem. Because I have concerns about whether there's a problem." Apparently enraged by this course of events, Fields threw his coat; the judge assured the respondent that he (Fields) was not frightening or "buffaloing" the court by his actions.

Following the court-ordered mental health screening, a court psychiatrist reported that Fields was "competent to stand trial because mental health factors do not substantially impair his . . . capacity to have a factual and rational understanding of the proceedings against him." On January 27, 2000, the judge issued civil protection orders in favor of each petitioner. The judge also confirmed his prior tentative contempt finding in a written order, as follows:

On January 24, 2000, this matter was before the court for a civil protection order ("CPO") hearing. During the hearing and prior to the start of the hearing, the defendant was warned by the court on at least three occasions not to look at the petitioner because the court was concerned that the respondent was trying to intimidate the petitioner. Despite the court's oral instructions, the respondent continued to stare at the petitioner. Moreover, the respondent admitted in open court that shortly before the court broke for lunch he mouthed the words "I love you" to the petitioner, in direct violation of the court's oral instructions and a temporary protection order issued by the court in this case on January 10, 2000. In light of the respondent's blatant violation of the court's repeated orders not to look at the petitioner, it is on this 27th day of January, 2000, hereby ORDERED that the defendant is found to be in criminal contempt of this court's orders.

(Footnote omitted.)

Fields was released on personal recognizance. On February 29, 2000, two days after the aborted CPO hearing, the judge sentenced Fields to imprisonment for 180 days for criminal contempt, but he suspended execution of the sentence and placed Fields on supervised probation for eighteen months. This appeal followed.

II.

Fields first asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of criminal contempt. We disagree.

When assessing evidentiary sufficiency, our standard of review is necessarily deferential. Even in summary contempt proceedings, "[w]e may not disturb the trial court['s] findings unless they are without evidentiary support or plainly wrong." In re Vance, 697 A.2d 42, 44 (D.C.1997) (quoting Bethard v. District of Columbia, 650 A.2d 651, 654 (D.C.1994) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Whether the acts in which the defendant was found to have engaged constitute criminal contempt, on the other hand, is a question of law, and we review the trial court's resolution of that question de novo. Brooks v. United States, 686 A.2d 214, 219 (D.C.1996)

.

"The elements of criminal contempt are (1) willful disobedience (2) of a court order (3) causing an obstruction of the orderly administration of justice." Swisher v. United States, 572 A.2d 85, 89 (D.C.1990) (per curiam) (citing In re Thompson, 454 A.2d 1324, 1326 (D.C.1982) (per curiam)). The offense requires both "a contemptuous act and a wrongful state of mind." In re Gorfkle, 444 A.2d 934, 939 (D.C.1982). All of these elements have been satisfied in this case.

The trial judge clearly and unambiguously ordered Fields not to look at the petitioners. He gave this direction on at least four occasions. In addition, the judge informed Fields of the consequences of disobeying the order. Initially, he explained that Fields was "going to get [himself] in more trouble" if he did not stop staring at the petitioners and, especially, at Tyanna Weedon. Later, when the violations continued, the judge warned the respondent that he would be found in contempt of court if he persisted in his non-compliance.

While, as Fields maintains, he was, for the most part, courteous to the...