Opinion ID: 1933100
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Michael Thrower

Text: Michael Thrower fathered four children by three different women, each of whom was compelled to pursue him for child support. On February 9, 1990, at the instance of Bertha Brown, Thrower was ordered to pay to BOSE $200 a month for the support of his son, Michael Thrower, Jr. In June, 1991, at the instance of Sebastine Corbin, a consent order was entered directing him to pay to BOSE $75 a month for the support of his son, Michael Thrower III. In October, 1991, by consent, that amount was increased to $76 per week. Also in October, 1991, a judgment divorcing him from Cynthia Thrower ordered him to pay to Ms. Thrower $200 a month for the support of Shatie and Tanika Thrower, children of that marriage. These various support orders had little effect on Mr. Thrower. In April, 1991, he was already $965 in arrears as to Michael, Jr. In December, he was $3,260 in arrears as to Michael III, and, in that month, he was found in contempt and ordered committed to jail unless $500 was paid on the arrearage. In June, 1992, he was $8,836 in arrears as to Shatie and Tanika and was again ordered committed, for 90 days, unless $500 was paid. His total support obligation at that time was $789/month. In March, 1993, he was $15,864 in arrears as to Shatie and Tanika. In lieu of incarceration, he was ordered then to make bi-weekly contact with BOSE for employment counseling and monitoring. Whatever emanated from that contact seemed to work, at least for a while, for the next enforcement action was not until November, 1996, at which time his arrearage had climbed back to $15,986. He was again ordered to report his employment status to BOSE on a bi-weekly basis and to submit a medical incapacitation form. In August, 1997, when he was nearly $16,000 in arrears as to Michael, Jr., over $23,000 in arrears as to Michael III, and over $18,000 in arrears as to Shatie and Tanika, Thrower filed a petition to reduce the amount of support for Shatie, Tanika, and Michael III on the ground that a recurring injury of my knee from 1991, keep stopping me from working. In December, 1997, a consent order was entered establishing a wage lien and directing Thrower to pay $270/month for Shatie and Tanika, an increase of $70/month. The next effort to secure payment came in November, 1998, when Thrower was alleged to be about $70,000 in arrears in the three cases. At a hearing before the master, Thrower claimed to be employed, making about $140/week. His defense at the time was that money was being withheld pursuant to the earnings lien, but he produced no records to demonstrate any such deduction and BOSE claimed that it had received nothing from the employer. The master, on no evidence other than Thrower's admission that he was earning about $140/week, found that he had the present ability to make his full on-going child support payments and maintain bi-weekly contact with [BOSE] and that he also had the present ability to meet [a] purge amount of [$420]. He recommended that Thrower be held in contempt for failure to pay and failure to maintain bi-weekly contact with BOSE, that a purge amount of $420 be set, and that Thrower be incarcerated for 179 days, on a work-release program, if the purge amount was not paid within three weeks. [3] Expressing his obvious frustration, the master told Thrower: I can't deal with you any more. You owe seventy thousand dollars. You don't care. You're not sincere about child support or anything else. You just come in here and blow your smoke and your story and I'm just done with you. Exceptions to the master's recommendations were filed by the Public Defender's Office, claiming that (1) there was no evidence supporting the master's finding that Thrower had the present ability to pay the purge amount, (2) the master failed to determine whether Thrower had received notice of his right to counsel, as required by Maryland Rule 15-206(e) and Thrower was not permitted to explain his appearance without counsel, and (3) Thrower was not given a fair opportunity to offer a defense. In January, 1999, the court found that the master had neglected to advise Thrower of his right to counsel and sustained that exception. Thrower, who apparently had been incarcerated in the meanwhile, was released from jail. Two months later, in March, 1999, another petition for contempt was filed, charging Thrower with failure to maintain bi-weekly contact with BOSE, as required by the existing court order. Thrower failed to appear at the hearing set for March 12. When he appeared at the rescheduled hearing on May 14, he requested, and received, a postponement in order to obtain counsel. He requested, and received, the same relief at a hearing on June 28. The hearing that ultimately led to this appeal was held on July 19, 1999. It did not take very long. Thrower again appeared without counsel. After the master was advised by BOSE that Thrower had been given a double opportunity to obtain an attorney, this colloquy, which constitutes the entire waiver inquiry, occurred: THE COURT: Okay. So you've had the opportunity. You're here without a lawyer. You're ready to go. You gonna be your own lawyer MR. THROWER: Yes. THE COURT: Okay. Very good. Court finds pursuant to Maryland Rule [15-206] that Mr. Thrower has knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to counsel. Swear him in. The BOSE agent, who was not sworn, informed the court that Thrower was then $76,359 in arrears and that his last contact with BOSE was on July 16only three days earlier. BOSE later acknowledged that, as the result of a consent order agreed to by one of the mothers but not yet signed by a judge, $20,000 of the arrearage would be excused, leaving a remaining arrearage of approximately $56,000. His total support obligation was then $814/month and the only payment received by BOSE in 1999 was $180.35, which was pursuant to a wage lien. Thrower stated that he had been fired from his job and was then receiving unemployment benefits of $69/week. He said that he had two of his children with him during the summer. On that evidence, the master decided to double the $420 purge he had set in 1998, declaring: The purge in this case will be eight forty and you can get the Public Defender and file an exception and I'm sure you'll be successful in having that one overturned too. No problem. Because Thrower had the two children with him, the master decided to delay the purge date until August 30. The actual findings made by the master were that Thrower was in contempt of court, that $840 was a reasonable purge amount, and that Thrower had the present ability to pay that amount. How he was going to pay it when his only apparent resource was unemployment benefits of $69/week was not discussed by the master. The master recommended that, unless the $840 was sooner paid, Thrower be incarcerated for 179 days, effective September 15, 1999, but placed on work release. The same exceptions that had been filed with respect to the 1998 report of the master were filed to this report, in nearly identical language, the first one being that there was no evidence to support the master's conclusion that Thrower had the present ability to pay the purge amount. The court denied the exceptions, however, and, in an order dated July 30, 1999, adjudged Thrower to be in contempt of court and sentenced him to 179 days in the county detention center, effective September 15, 1999, unless before then he paid a purge amount of $840.