Appellant filed an immediate appeal to the Superior Court. He served six days of his ten-day jail sentence before the Superior Court issued a per curiam order staying his sentence and released Appellant pending its full consideration of his appeal. After a Superior Court panel in a 2 - 1 decision affirmed his sentence, Judge Tereshko issued a bench warrant for Appellant's arrest. He filed an emergency petition in this Court to stay his sentence, which we granted on February 9, 1996. Accordingly, Appellant has already spent eight days in jail for contempt.
Courts use contempt powers to maintain effective control of proceedings.
For this reason, Courts of justice are universally acknowledged to be vested, by their very creation, with power to impose silence, respect, and decorum, in their presence, and submission to their lawful mandates. These powers are governed not by rule or statute but by the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases. This Court has long upheld a court's power to maintain courtroom authority. The court must be able to control those appearing before it, and must be able to use its power summarily to avoid interference with the principal matter before the court. Thus it is undisputed that a judge must have broad discretion to maintain control in his courtroom.