Roberts v. State, 86-2164
| Decision Date | 19 November 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-2164,86-2164 |
| Citation | 515 So.2d 434,12 Fla. L. Weekly 2648 |
| Parties | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 2648 Burt Howard ROBERTS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Nancye R. Crouch, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Kevin Kitpatrick Carson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.
We affirm the order of the trial court finding defendant to be in direct criminal contempt and sentencing defendant to six months' incarceration in the Orange County jail. The evidence presented at the hearing on defendant's motion to vacate his plea of nolo contendere supports the findings of fact recited in the judgment of guilt that the defendant committed perjury in his testimony before the court either at the time he entered his plea or at the time he gave diametrically opposite testimony when he sought to withdraw it. Perjury in the context of a motion to vacate a plea is sufficient to support a finding of direct criminal contempt. See Bumgarner v. State, 245 So.2d 635 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). Unquestionably, perjured testimony has an obstructive effect on the judicial system, and trial judges should not tolerate this type of interference with the judicial process. See Bartz v. State, 221 So.2d 7, 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969).
AFFIRMED.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Oquendo v. State
...for direct contempt of court or perjury may be imposed when movants are untruthful in postconviction proceedings. See Roberts v. State, 515 So.2d 434 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) a finding of direct contempt of court where the movant's testimony was diametrically opposed to prior sworn testimony); s......
-
Emanuel v. State, 91-2265
...and the court cannot take judicial knowledge that the testimony or allegation is false. 189 So. at 715. See also Roberts v. State, 515 So.2d 434 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (order of contempt upheld where defendant's testimony at his motion to withdraw his plea was diametrically opposite to his tes......
-
Roman v. State, 97-1507
...of the hearing that her name was "Ortiz." While perjury will support a conviction for direct criminal contempt, Roberts v. State, 515 So.2d 434 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987), here the record fails to support the determination that Sanchez perjured herself in the presence of the trial court at the Mar......
-
Whitty v. State
...for direct contempt of court or perjury may be imposed when movants are untruthful in postconviction proceedings. See Roberts v. State, 515 So.2d 434 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (approving a finding of direct contempt of court where the movant's testimony was diametrically opposed to prior sworn te......