Skinner v. State

Citation838 P.2d 715
Decision Date09 September 1992
Docket NumberNo. 91-238,91-238
PartiesBecky Sue SKINNER, a/k/a Becky Sue Wederski, a/k/a Becky Sue Self, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
CourtUnited 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.

URBIGKIT, Justice.

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:

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, my client, as you know, has a tiny baby. We would ask if she could have a couple days to make arrangements for that baby. She's made some tentative arrangements.

THE COURT: What sort of bail is she on right now?

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Twenty-four hundred. OR signature bond.

THE COURT: What sort of assurance do I have, [Defense Counsel], that she's not going to hit the road?

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Well, you don't for sure, Your Honor, but I think she's been good about keeping in touch with me and her probation officer. She has made arrangements for the older child, but the younger one has been a harder thing and she needs to get the finalization on those arrangements made. I think that possibly her probation officer could answer that question better than I because she has dealt with her more.

THE COURT: [Defense Counsel], I take the position when people come into this court for sentencing and the possibility exists that they are going to jail, that they should have their affairs in order when they get here so that they go immediately, because one of the problems with our system and one of the criticisms that it undergoes on a daily basis is that justice is too slow and it takes too long to get around to these sorts of things. And I don't like those kinds of delays.

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.

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Honor. I understand that.

THE COURT: She has until tomorrow afternoon, the 20th of September, 5:00 o'clock p.m., to surrender herself to the Fremont County jail. Now, if you fail to do that and we have to get a warrant for your arrest and bring you back here that will be contempt of Court, and I will sentence you to that separate and apart from your prison sentence, and I will likely sentence you to the maximum possible thing I could for contempt of Court if you take off; do you understand that?

[DEFENDANT]: Yes, I do, Your Honor.

THE COURT: It will only compound your problems severely.

[DEFENDANT]: Yes.

THE COURT: So where do you need to be to turn yourself in?

[DEFENDANT]: No later than 5:00 o'clock tomorrow night down here at the Fremont County jail.

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:

THE COURT: * * * So the issue here today is whether or not you are in fact guilty of contempt of Court for failing to surrender as ordered. Do you admit or deny you are in contempt of this Court?

[DEFENDANT]: I am in contempt of this Court.

THE COURT: What did you not do to be in contempt?

[DEFENDANT]: I did not show up September 20th, 1990 and submit myself to the Fremont County jail to be transported to the Wyoming Center in Lusk.

THE COURT: All right. And why did you do that?

[DEFENDANT]: I don't really have an excuse. I got scared and I left. I took my daughter and went away and started a new life, but it wasn't a new life.

THE COURT: Okay. Well, is there anything that you or your attorney would like to say to me before I impose sentence on the contempt, or do you know of any reason why I shouldn't sentence you now?

[DEFENDANT]: There's no reason why you shouldn't. Okay. You want--I'm going to make a statement to the Court, Your Honor. * * * [Explanation of her activities ensued.]

* * * * * *

THE COURT: Anything else you want to say?

[DEFENDANT]: I just put myself on the mercy of the Court.

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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    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • 22 Febrero 2005
    ...State v. Smith, 99 Nev. 806, 672 P.2d 631 (1983) (same); Ex parte Williams, 799 S.W.2d 304 (Tex.Cr.App.1990) (same); Skinner v. State, 838 P.2d 715 (Wyo.1992) South Carolina courts have recognized the Bloom mandate as well. In Curlee v. Howle, 277 S.C. 377, 287 S.E.2d 915 (1982), our suprem......
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    ...criminal contempt finds solid support in Wyoming case law, see e.g., Connors v. Connors, 769 P.2d 336 (Wyo.1989); Skinner v. Wyoming, 838 P.2d 715 (Wyo.1992), and is specified in the Wyoming Rules of Criminal Procedure, where is it defined as an act "not committed in the immediate presence ......
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    ...courts of general jurisdiction in Wyoming." Swain v. State , 2009 WY 142, ¶ 13, 220 P.3d 504, 507 (Wyo. 2009) (citing Skinner v. State , 838 P.2d 715, 723 (Wyo. 1992) ). Generally, we will reverse a contempt order "only upon a finding of ‘a serious procedural error, a violation of a princip......
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    • 19 Noviembre 2009
    ...of that conviction. [¶ 13] The power to punish for contempt is inherent in all courts of general jurisdiction in Wyoming. Skinner v. State, 838 P.2d 715, 723 (Wyo.1992); Connors v. Connors, 769 P.2d 336, 343 (Wyo.1989); Horn v. District Court, Ninth Judicial District, 647 P.2d 1368, 1374-75......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Summary Contempt Power in the Military: A Proposal to Amend Article 48, UCMJ
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    • Military Law Review No. 160, June 1999
    • 1 Junio 1999
    ...785.02, 785.03, 785.04 (West 1998); WYO. R. CRIM. P. 42; Weiss v. State ex rel. Cardine, 455 P.2d 904 (Wyo. 1969); Skinner v. State, 838 P.2d 715 (Wyo. 135. See, e.g., ALA. R. CRIM. P. 33.1. 136. See, e.g., ARIZ. R. CRIM. P. 33.2. 137. See, e.g., IDAHO R. CRIM. P. 42. 138. See ALA. R. CRIM.......

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