Opinion ID: 2369694
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: In this Court, Black challenges the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the convictions for criminal contempt. When the sufficiency of the convicting evidence is raised as an issue on appeal, this Court must review the record to determine if the proof adduced at trial supports the findings of the trier of fact of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Tenn. R.App. P. 13(e). We do not reweigh the proof. The defendant has the burden of illustrating to this Court why the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict. A guilty verdict removes the presumption of innocence and it is replaced with a presumption of guilt. We will not disturb a verdict of guilt for lack of sufficient evidence unless the facts contained in the record and any inferences which may be drawn from the facts are insufficient, as a matter of law, for a rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Daugherty, 137 Tenn. at 127, 191 S.W. at 974; Creasy, 885 S.W.2d at 831. Applying that standard to the facts in this case, we conclude that the Court of Appeals erred in holding the evidence insufficient to support Blount's convictions for contempt. While, to some extent, the trial court relied upon all three statutory grounds charged in finding Blount guilty of contempt, primary reliance was placed upon the first statutory section which allows a finding of contempt for the willful misbehavior of any person in the presence of the court, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-9-102(1) (1981 Repl.). In holding the evidence insufficient to sustain the convictions on that statutory basis, the Court of Appeals interpreted this Court's decision in Winfree v. State, 175 Tenn. 427, 135 S.W.2d 454 (1940), to require proof of an actual interruption, hindrance, delay or obstruction of the proceeding from which the charge of willful misbehavior arises. Since Blount's conduct did not disrupt the trial, and indeed, largely transpired following the trial's conclusion, the Court of Appeals found the evidence insufficient to establish that Blount's conduct obstructed the administration of justice. Black argues that the Court of Appeals interpreted the Winfree decision too narrowly and applied an incorrect legal standard when it evaluated the sufficiency of the evidence. We agree. In describing conduct constituting contempt, the Winfree Court stated that [t]he most familiar forms of contempt are found in acts which hinder, delay, and obstruct the administration of justice, which are usually committed in the course of the adjudication of some cause or the execution of its judgment. Id., 135 S.W.2d at 455. We do not interpret that statement as a definitive pronouncement intended to narrow the contempt power of the courts to encompass only the familiar and usual forms of contemptuous conduct. In fact, the Winfree Court acknowledged that acts constituting contempt cover a wide range. Id. Indeed, criminal contempt of court that obstructs the administration of justice has generally been defined as any willful misconduct which embarrasses, hinders, or obstructs a court in its administration of justice or derogates the court's authority or dignity, thereby bringing the administration of law into disrepute. See generally, Black's Law Dictionary 319 (6th ed. 1990); see also People v. Javaras, 51 Ill.2d 296, 281 N.E.2d 670 (1972); Hirschfeld v. Superior Court, 184 Ariz. 208, 908 P.2d 22 (App. 1995). Courts applying that definition have found misconduct similar to that displayed by Blount contemptuous under statutes either identical or very similar to the statute at issue in this case. For example, in Tanner v. United States, 62 F.2d 601 (10th Cir.1932), following a jury trial in a civil case, Tanner, an attorney who represented a party in the suit, encountered a juror who had served in the trial and proceed to abuse the juror because of the small amount of damages awarded his client. Id. The juror complained to the court, and Tanner was tried under a statute which allowed courts to punish as contempt the misbehavior of any person in their presence, [courts], or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, the misbehavior of any of the officers of said courts in their official transactions, and the disobedience or resistance by any such officer, or by any party, juror, witness, or other person to any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of the said courts. Id. at 602. Tanner was convicted of criminal contempt. On appeal he argued that since the case in which the juror had served was concluded when the incident occurred, he was not subject to punishment for contempt under the statute. The Tenth Circuit strongly rejected Tanner's argument While the jury had returned a verdict in the Woody Case in which the juror had sat, he was still an officer of the court and would be called in subsequent cases. Appellant also was an officer of the court. The attack having been made by one officer of the court upon another because of the subject-matter of a trial concluded only so far as the return of a verdict by the jury, we are of the opinion while the attack was made outside of the courtroom and after the jury had returned its verdict, yet the case was still pending, and it was not only the right but the duty of the court to deal with the same. It is unthinkable a court should be so weak or supine, so wanting in constitutional power, as to not be able to protect its officers in the proper discharge of their sworn duty. That a juror, acting under his sworn duty in the administration of justice in one of our national courts, should be so basely accused and humiliated by an interested officer of the court, cannot be thought not to be included in the statutory law above quoted. No doubt jurors, if such conduct as is found in this record should go unpunished, would fear to do their sworn duty in an honest, impartial manner, as must be done in the administration of justice in our courts. Id. at 602. Likewise, in Hirschfeld the Arizona Court of Appeals refused to accept the argument that a court may not punish an attorney by contempt when the misconduct does not occur in the course of a proceeding. There Hirschfeld, an attorney representing the father in a child custody proceeding followed the mother around the courthouse after a meeting in the judge's chambers demanding to know the location of the child and instructing a deputy to arrest her for custodial interference. The trial judge cited Hirschfeld for contempt of court, and following a hearing before a different judge, Hirschfeld was convicted of engaging in willfully contumacious conduct which obstructs the administration of justice, or which lessens the dignity and authority of the court. 908 P.2d at 25. Hirschfeld challenged the conviction on appeal on the basis that his conduct did not occur during a trial proceeding. In rejecting that argument, the Arizona court stated: We conclude that such behavior is a contempt of court for the very reason expressed by the trial judge  that the court has the right and the duty to protect litigants, witnesses, attorneys and jurors from misbehavior and harassment while they are in or near the courtroom, whether they are arriving, waiting, or departing. Conduct like Hirschfeld's, because it impinges on that right and duty, lessens the dignity and authority of the court. Id. 908 P.2d at 25-26. The court in Hirschfeld , relied upon United States v. Patterson, 26 F. 509 (W.D. Tenn. 1886) as support for its holding. There, a man named Patterson, believed that a lawyer had insulted his father. Patterson went to the courthouse where the lawyer was trying a case, waited until court adjourned, entered the courtroom, and struck the lawyer with his hand. When the incident occurred, the judge had left the bench but was still in the courtroom, although Patterson did not realize that at the time he acted. Patterson was cited for contempt and defended on the grounds that he had intended no contempt, having waited until he believed the judge had left the room. Id. at 511. Rejecting Patterson's defense on two separate and distinct grounds, the court first stated that the court would deserve the contempt of public opinion if it permitted so narrow a view of its prerogatives to prevail, and could not complain, if, during its recess, the courtroom should be used for a cock-pit or a convenient place to erect a prize ring. Id. Moreover, the Patterson court emphasized that courts have the authority and the duty to protect all who are engaged in and about the proceedings of the court... . Id. This rule, according to the court, protects parties, jurors, witnesses and officers of the court, and anyone else engaged in and about the business of the court. Id. Without such a rule, attorneys might be driven from court, or deterred from coming to it, or be held in bodily fear while in attendance, and thereby the administration of justice be obstructed. Id. While some courts have accepted the proposition that only conduct which actually interferes with a pending proceeding is punishable as contempt which obstructs the administration of justice. [2] we agree with the cases above discussed that such a limited interpretation of the phrase administration of justice is both unwarranted and unwise. As the Tanner court recognized [i]t is unthinkable a court should be so weak or supine, so wanting in constitutional power, as to not be able to protect its officers in the proper discharge of their sworn duty. 62 F.2d at 602. Therefore, we explicitly hold that criminal contempt of court which obstructs the administration of justice includes all willful misconduct which embarrasses, hinders, or obstructs a court in its administration of justice or derogates the court's authority or dignity, thereby bringing the administration of law into disrepute. We also emphasize that disrespectful conduct by an attorney has a greater impact upon the dignity of a court than does disrespectful conduct of a lay person. Public respect for the law derives in large measure from the image which the administration of justice presents. Lawyers play an integral role in the administration of justice and, as such, their conduct can have a great influence upon the extent to which the proceedings are perceived as fair and dignified by jurors, defendants, witnesses, and spectators. Accordingly, a lawyer's allegations of inequity and unfairness are uniquely denigrating to the dignity of the proceedings. See generally Matter of Campolongo, 495 Pa. 627, 435 A.2d 581 (1981). Applying these standards to the facts of this case, we find the evidence sufficient to support the trial court's finding that Blount's gestures and comments to the jury as the verdicts were being read and his comments and conduct outside the courtroom toward the jurors and opposing counsel, constitute willful misbehavior so near to the presence of the court that it obstructs the administration of justice. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the trial court's judgment finding Blount guilty of two counts of contempt is reinstated.