Skinner v. State
Citation | 838 P.2d 715 |
Decision Date | 09 September 1992 |
Docket Number | No. 91-238,91-238 |
Parties | Becky Sue SKINNER, a/k/a Becky Sue Wederski, a/k/a Becky Sue Self, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming |
Leonard D. Munker, State Public Defender, Gerald M. Gallivan, Director, Defender Aid Program, and Donald L. Fuller, Student Director, Defender Aid Program, for appellant.
Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., Sylvia Lee Hackl, Deputy Atty. Gen., Barbara L. Boyer, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Robin Sessions-Cooley, Student Intern, for appellee.
Before MACY, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, URBIGKIT, * and GOLDEN, JJ.
Appellant was sentenced to a six month jail term for criminal contempt when, following the receipt of a penitentiary sentence, she chose to ignore her surrender date rather than to present herself as directed to begin confinement. She appeals from the additional confinement penalty as the punishment for criminal contempt and contends error in procedural infirmities for assessment of that punishment after jumping bond and failing to report to begin serving her sentence.
We affirm the six month jail sentence.
The specific issues stated are:
I. Whether the trial court erred in accepting a plea of guilty to a charge of criminal contempt without advising the defendant of her due process rights or obtaining a waiver of those rights on the record before accepting the guilty plea?
II. Whether the district court erred in accepting a guilty plea without advising the defendant of the right to trial by jury under the Wyoming Constitution on the record and obtaining a waiver of that right in writing or in open court?
III. Whether the district court judge should have recused himself from the criminal contempt proceeding where the record indicates both a prejudgment as to the facts, and that the supposed contempt of the defendant was directed toward him?
Appellant, Becky Sue Self, a/k/a Becky Sue Skinner (Self), had been charged in a twenty-four count criminal complaint for forgery and, after arrest, was released on her personal recognizance by signing an appearance bond. Immediate plea bargaining was pursued and a three count felony information was filed to which she pled guilty. 1 The plea bargain did not involve sentencing recommendations.
At a September 19, 1990 hearing, the trial court entered a sentence against her of one and one-half to six years confinement at the Wyoming Women's Center, at which time the following exchange occurred:
Now, in this case I will make an exception because it involves a very small infant, and that is the only reason; but for future reference you should be on notice when your clients come in here and get sentenced they're going to go immediately to the jail. That's how it is going to work.
Adequate advance notice had certainly been given to Self about the price to be paid for non-compliance with the trial court's grant of the delay for time to report to begin serving the sentence. Jaramillo v. State, 802 P.2d 872 (Wyo.1990).
Instead of complying, Self disappeared. A bench warrant was issued and she remained a fugitive for over eleven months until turning herself in to Fremont County, Wyoming authorities in August 1991. While in the Fremont County jail on September 11, 1991, she was served with an order to show cause, in addition to incarceration on the prior confinement order, addressing why she should not be held in contempt of court for violating the terms and conditions of her bond. On September 16, 1991, she was brought back before the trial court and entered a plea of guilty to the criminal contempt. During the entire process following original arrest, guilty plea and then through the show cause proceeding, Self was represented by the same counsel. Following the trial court's finding of guilt on the contempt for failure to respond to commence her sentence, she was given a term of confinement of six months in the Fremont County jail. This sentence was to be served consecutive to the earlier penitentiary sentence, with twenty days credit for jail time after the rearrest.
The sentencing session was brief and included:
This appeal tests the claimed invalidity of the six month incarceration as the criminal contempt penalty. Appellant argues she had inadequate advice before entry of the plea, including the right to demand a trial by jury, and finally adds a suggestion of judicial prejudice.
W.R.Cr.P. 41--criminal contempt--then in effect, provided in subsection (a) for summary disposition, which has no applicability here, and then provided in the two following sections:
(b) Disposition on notice and hearing.--A criminal contempt except as provided in subdivision (a) of this rule shall be prosecuted on notice. The notice shall state the time and place of hearing, allowing a reasonable time for the preparation of the defense, and shall state the essential facts constituting the criminal contempt charged and describe it as such. The notice shall be given orally by the judge in open court in the presence of the defendant, or on application of the prosecuting attorney, or of an attorney appointed by the court for that purpose, by an order to show cause or an order of arrest. Upon arrest the defendant shall be entitled to admission to bail as provided in these rules. If the contempt charge involves disrespect to or criticism of a judge, that judge is disqualified from presiding at the trial or hearing except with the defendant's consent. Upon a verdict or finding of guilt the court shall enter an order fixing the punishment.
(c) Jury trial.--Sentence to imprisonment upon a conviction on a charge of criminal contempt shall not exceed a term of six (6) months unless the defendant shall have been afforded the right to trial by jury on the charge. 2
Considering that Self was overtly guilty, she did have notice of her troubled status not only by the statement of the trial court given a year earlier, but additionally by the order to show cause. The first question (in what now may be the last examination of this rescinded rule) is whether additional notice was required and not given before the guilty plea could be accepted by the trial court. We will agree with both Self and the State that Self's failure to appear, as ordered, to commence serving the sentence constituted indirect (constructive) criminal contempt. United Mine Workers of America, Local 1972 v. Decker Coal Co., 774 P.2d 1274 (Wyo.1989); Laramie Nat. Bank of Laramie City v. Steinhoff, 7 Wyo. 464, 472, 53 P. 299 (1898). See also Tracy, Green & Co. v. Warner, 704 P.2d 1306 (Wyo.1985) and Anderson v. Anderson, 667 P.2d 660 (Wyo.1983).
We are not persuaded that bail jumping contempt invokes concerns about disrespect for...
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