U.S. v. Young

• Decision Date: 11 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-3107,96-3107
• Citation: 107 F.3d 903
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Sylvia YOUNG, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 903

107 F.3d 903

323 U.S.App.D.C. 270

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Sylvia YOUNG, Appellant.

No. 96-3107.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Feb. 14, 1997.

Decided March 11, 1997.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 96ms00021).

Evelina J. Norwinski, Assistant Federal Public Defender, argued the cause, Washington, DC, for appellant. A.J. Kramer, Federal Public Defender, and Sandra G. Roland, Assistant Federal Public Defender, were on the brief. Neil H. Jaffee, Assistant Federal Public Defender, entered an appearance.

Kristina L. Ament, Attorney, United States Department of Justice, argued the cause, Washington, DC, for appellee, with whom William D. Braun, Trial Attorney, was on the brief.

Before: WALD, GINSBURG and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

WALD, Circuit Judge:

This criminal contempt conviction arose out of a civil class-action suit in which District of Columbia Department of Corrections ("DOC") employees alleged that they had been victims of sexual harassment and retaliation. Appellant Sylvia Young was convicted of criminal contempt for violating a court order issued in conjunction with the sexual harassment lawsuit that enjoined DOC, together with all its agents and employees, from taking or threatening any retaliatory action against witnesses testifying in the lawsuit. Young was sentenced to 180 days in prison. On appeal, she claims that her conviction should be reversed for two reasons: (1) there was insufficient evidence to convict her because the court order from which the contempt charge arose was not sufficiently clear and specific; and (2) the district court violated her rights under the Due Process Clause and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 42(b) by failing to provide her with adequate notice of the charges against her in its show cause order. We find that neither of these two claims has merit and affirm the conviction. Young did not challenge her sentence, and therefore its appropriateness is not at issue in this appeal.

I. BACKGROUND

At the time of the events that gave rise to this criminal contempt conviction, appellant Sylvia Young had been employed as a DOC corrections officer for approximately seven years. During her tenure, a number of other DOC employees brought a class action alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. See Bessye Neal v. Margaret Moore, Acting Director, D.C. Dep't of Corrections, No. 93cv2420 (RCL). ¹ On March 15, 1995, the district court judge presiding over the Bessye Neal case issued a preliminary injunction stating that

2. Defendants, together with all of their agents and employees, are enjoined from taking any retaliatory action, or making any threats of retaliatory action, against any person who has been or may be called to testify as a witness in this case, and who is listed on Exhibit A, attached hereto.

Appendix ("App.") A1 (emphasis added). The district court directed DOC to distribute copies of the order to all Department employees, to post the order at Department facilities, and to ensure that the order was read at roll calls. Accordingly, DOC circulated the court order to all its employees, along with a supplementary memorandum explaining the order's meaning and import. ² On March 17, 1995, Young (along with all other DOC employees) individually signed a document certifying that she had received and read the March 15 order and that she understood she was bound by it.

Like appellant, Yvonne Brown was employed as a corrections officer at DOC. In early 1995, both Brown and appellant were assigned to DOC's Transportation Unit in Lorton, Virginia. Brown was a dispatcher, and was chiefly responsible for assigning other officers to transport inmates to court or to other appointments. Correctional officers assigned to the Transportation Unit receive and return their equipment at the dispatch office at the beginning and end of each shift. Brown was one of the witnesses in the Bessye Neal case and was therefore listed on Exhibit A to the court's March 15 order. On March 3, 1995, Brown testified that Lieutenant Laviska Gerald, a friend of Young's and a supervisor in the unit in which Brown worked, had sexually harassed Brown.

Brown and Young worked different shifts, but their times in the office often overlapped. Prior to March 6, 1995, Brown and Young had a "cordial" working relationship. However, on March 6, following Brown's testimony against Gerald and a subsequent article in the Washington Post detailing that testimony, ³ the relationship between Young and Brown changed dramatically for the worse. Young began to threaten and verbally harass Brown. On March 6, appellant came to the dispatch office door where Brown was working and said, "I have to be careful about what I say because motherfuckers will have you in court telling shit like they did [about] Gerald." App. B26. On March 9, appellant approached the dispatch door where Brown was working and said, "I'm not going to talk in here because this telling bitch that got Gerald in trouble is in here." App. B27. On March 14, appellant walked up to the dispatch office door and told Brown, "Don't let me catch you smoking in here because I'm telling because I want to get paid." App. B73-74. When Brown responded by commenting about Young's regular paycheck, appellant retorted, "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about getting paid like you and Wyatt [another witness in the Bessye Neal litigation]."

On March 15, the district court issued its injunction forbidding any and all DOC employees or agents from engaging in retaliatory conduct based on the pending sexual harassment suit. Even subsequent to that date, however, Young's harassing comments and actions continued. On March 22, appellant approached the dispatch office door to turn in her equipment to Brown and said, "Get off your ass and take this equipment before I slap you." App. B31. On April 21, appellant walked up to the dispatch office door and told Brown, "You better get the hell out of here with that cigarette." Brown countered that appellant was "off duty and you have been off and you don't have anything to do with what I am doing." Appellant then used profane language to Brown and, after making a telephone call at the office door, told Brown, "If you have something to say, say it now so I can slap you." App. B29-30.

On May 8, appellant was showing photos to another correctional employee, Corporal Joseph Hill, at the door to the dispatch office. When Hill suggested that Brown view the pictures, Brown declined and appellant said, "No, that bitch is not looking at my pictures." In an ensuing argument between Brown and Young, appellant said she would "kick [Brown's] ass" and "blow [her] away." App. B32. The shift supervisor, Lieutenant Rita Goodall, broke up the argument. As Young was being led outside by Sergeant Curtis, Young stated to Goodall, "Brown acts like she can't be touched but I don't care about that suit." App. C56-57.

On May 16, appellant again harassed Brown by dropping rounds of live ammunition on the floor in front of Brown when returning her equipment, laughing, and stating to Brown "that is your problem." App. B33, C4-5. Such conduct with weapons or ammunition violated Department of Corrections safety policy. Finally, on July 21, appellant attempted to trip Brown as she was entering one of the trailers that made up the Transportation Unit. App. C16.

In addition to these actions directed against Brown, Young also publicly expressed her unhappiness with Brown's trial testimony. About two weeks after Brown's testimony, Young told her friend and co-worker Larry Wellington that "they didn't have to do what they did to Gerald." App. C23. And in April 1995, Young told Theresa Manigault, a training officer, that "somebody needs to talk to Brown because that's messed up what she's doing to Gerald." App. C33.

Moreover, during the course of the events leading to the contempt conviction, Young was twice taken aside by other correctional employees who suggested that her conduct was improper in light of the district court's order. First, in April 1995, when Young expressed her displeasure at Brown's testimony in the case, Manigault told her "you need to leave that alone. You have no control over that. That's none of your business." App. C33. And again later, after the May 8 altercation, Corporal Hill reminded Brown about the district court's order, stating "you know that the judge's order said, any type of retaliation against those people on the list." He warned her that "you need to stop messing with Brown before you get in trouble." App. B75. Despite these warnings from co-workers, Young's harassment of Brown continued.

Following these events, Brown moved the court to hold Young in contempt of the order, alleging that Young had violated the judge's order by retaliating against Brown because of Brown's testimony in the Bessye Neal case. The Office of Personnel Management ("OPM") investigated Brown's allegations and concluded that appellant had retaliated against Brown for her testimony. A Special Master appointed by the district court reviewed the report of OPM's investigation and agreed with the report, finding that there was "ample evidence that Young did subject Brown to a series of abusive and threatening statements and associated behavior beginning after Brown's testimony in March 1995," and that there was "probable cause to believe that [appellant's] remarks and behavior were the result of retaliatory animus stemming from Brown's trial testimony." App. A16. The district court adopted the Special Master's recommendation and issued an order directing Young to show cause why she should not be held in contempt for violating its March 15 order. After a two-day bench trial, ⁴ the district court entered a guilty verdict and sentenced Young to 180 days in prison.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

To convict an individual...