R.C. v. State
| Citation | 648 So.2d 1258 |
| Decision Date | 01 February 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-2064,94-2064 |
| Parties | 20 Fla. L. Weekly D287 R.C., a juvenile, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Julie M. Levitt and Donald Tunnage, Sp. Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Joni Braunstein, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BARKDULL and GODERICH, JJ.
On the way into the courtroom for his delinquency hearing, the juvenile appellant kicked the courtroom door. When the bailiff, who was following him, told him not to do that, R.C. told him in return to "go f--k yourself." 1 We hold that the trial judge properly found, on the basis of this conduct, that R.C. was guilty of direct criminal contempt. In our view, even though the incident occurred technically outside the courtroom, the scatological language directed at an officer of the court in the due execution of his duty was clearly "calculated to lessen [the court's] authority or its dignity," and was therefore contemptuous. Ex parte Crews, 127 Fla. 381, 389, 173 So. 275, 279 (1937); see Woody v. State ex rel. Allen, 572 P.2d 241 (Okla.Crim.App.1977) (); Estes v. State, 192 Miss. 400, 6 So.2d 132 (1942) (); see also Carroll v. State, 350 So.2d 723 (Ala.Crim.App.1977) (); People v. Reeves, 23 Ill.App.3d 579, 319 N.E.2d 567 (1974) (). 2
Affirmed.
1 The judge was also in the area and himself heard the offending remark. After the hearing, which was therefore properly conducted summarily under Fla.R.Juv.P. 8.285(a), see Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.830, he concluded that the statement had been directed only at the bailiff, and not at him.
2 This case does not involve the perceived procedural deficiency, and we do not share the self-tortured reticence to enforce the trial court's contempt authority which together drove the decision in Schenck v. State, 645 So.2d 71 (Fla. 4th...
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...the focus was upon the contemnor's intent to embarrass or lessen the dignity and authority of the trial court. See R.C. v. State, 648 So.2d 1258, 1259 (Fla. 3d DCA)(scatological language addressed to an officer of the court was contemptuous as it was "calculated to lessen [the court's] auth......
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Alvis v. State, 3D99-2983.
...open court. While the evidence justifies findings that in each instance, Alvis was indeed criminally contemptuous, see R.C. v. State, 648 So.2d 1258 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), review denied, 659 So.2d 1088 (Fla.1995), citing Best v. State, 648 So.2d 734 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994); Martinez v. State, 339 S......
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Hoeffer v. State, 96-1843
...the name calling in the hallway was not indirect contempt. See Via v. State, 633 So.2d 1198 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994); cf. R.C. v. State, 648 So.2d 1258 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 659 So.2d 1088 However, the element of threat or intimidation to an attorney who is an officer of the court justifies......
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McKenzie v. State, 3D02-1688.
...Attorney General, for appellee. Before RAMIREZ and WELLS, JJ., and NESBITT, Senior Judge. PER CURIAM. Affirmed. R.C. v. State, 648 So.2d 1258, 1259 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995); Martinez v. State, 339 So.2d 1133, 1135 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Saunders v. State, 319 So.2d 118, 124 (Fla. 1st DCA ...