Sykes v. United States

• Decision Date: 10 May 1971
• Docket Number: No. 24008.,24008.
• Parties: Grant SYKES, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

144 US App. DC 53, 444 F.2d 928 (1971)

Grant SYKES, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 24008.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued April 9, 1971.

Decided May 10, 1971.

Mr. Gerald M. Kane, with whom Mr. Reynold J. Bossidy was on the brief, for appellant. Mr. Grant Sykes, appellant pro se, was also on the brief.

Mr. Roger M. Adelman, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Messrs. Thomas A. Flannery, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry, Axel H. Kleiboemer, and Broughton M. Earnest, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before McGOWAN, TAMM and ROBB, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

The appellant, a member of the bar, was convicted of contempt and fined $25.00 by a judge of the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions (now the Superior Court). He appealed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which affirmed the judgment. Sykes v. United States, 264 A.2d 894 (1970). We granted his petition for allowance of appeal and we reverse the conviction.

The facts are simple and not in dispute. The appellant was appointed attorney of record in a criminal case which on April 28, 1969, at his request, was continued to May 8, 1969, for trial before a judge of the Court of General Sessions. Appellant entered the date May 8 in the notebook in which he recorded his scheduled court appearances; but on May 8 he did not appear before the judge and the case had to be continued. The judge thereupon issued an order to show cause why the appellant should not be held in contempt of court for his failure to appear.

At the hearing on the rule to show cause the appellant testified that on the morning of May 8 he was scheduled to argue a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Relying on his memory instead of his notebook he went directly from his home to the United States Courthouse, without getting in touch with his office. He testified that he simply forgot that the trial in the Court of General Sessions was scheduled for Thursday, May 8; that he was under the impression that the case was set for the following Thursday, May 15; that his confusion came about because both Thursdays had been mentioned as possible trial dates which were convenient for the arresting officer. The appellant's argument before the United States Court of Appeals was concluded shortly after 10:00 o'clock, and he then went to the Bar Association library where he stayed for about an hour. He went from the library to the clerk's office in the criminal branch of the Court of General Sessions "to look up a paper", then visited his office briefly and, shortly after noon, went to lunch. When he returned from lunch at about 2:00 o'clock his stenographer, a new employee, eighteen years old, told him that she had forgot to tell him that he had received a telephone call that morning from the "court", reminding him that he had a case that day. The appellant asked her who had called but "she was unable to give me any information". The appellant "presumed that it was the Court of Appeals reminding me, although I thought it was strange".

On this evidence the judge, applying D.C.Code § 11-982(a) (1967),¹ found the appellant guilty of contempt. Explaining his ruling, the judge said

"Well, I\'m certainly most reluctant to hold an attorney in contempt of court and as far as Mr. Sykes is concerned I\'ve had very favorable experiences. On the other hand, the administration of justice in this court and the District of Columbia generally requires that attornies sic and defendants and witnesses and others be present on the scheduled trial date.

* * * * * *

"Well, you have served the court and I do take that into account and, as I say, I was reluctant to find you in contempt of court in the first place because of that but, on the other hand, I simply can not sit by while lawyers just take their appointments and assignments in this court as cavalierly as you apparently did in this case."

The appellant raises two issues: (1) whether his failure to appear may constitute "contempt committed in the presence of the court", and (2) whether the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction for criminal contempt.

The District of Columbia Code § 11-982(a) (1967) authorized the judge to "punish * * * for contempt committed in the presence of the court * * *." The decided cases are in substantial disagreement as to whether an attorney commits a contempt "in the presence of the court" by failing to appear at the time and place appointed by the court. See Annot., 97 A.L.R.2d 431 (1964). Interpreting Section 268 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C. § 385, applicable to the federal courts of this circuit, this court has answered the question in the negative. Klein v. United States, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 106, 151 F.2d 286 (1945). In the appellant's case, however, and in previous decisions applying the District of Columbia statute, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has adopted the contrary view. See In re Shorter, 236 A.2d 318 (1967); In re Saul, D.C.Mun. App., 171 A.2d 751 (1961).

We see no reason for us to interfere with the local court's permissible interpretation of its own statutory contempt authority. We think it pertinent to note also that the District of Columbia trial courts have, as least in the reported case...