Court Opinion

ID: 9602823
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:00:27.139552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:44:55.299410
License: Public Domain

Haymond, Judge,
dissenting:
Though I agree that each of the two syllabus points correctly states an abstract principle of law, I challenge and deny the applicability of each principle to the facts disclosed by the record in this case and dissent from the conclusion reached by the majority of the Court to reverse the judgment of the circuit court.
The judgment of the circuit court, of which the defendant L. D. Thornton complains, found him guilty of willful and deliberate violation of an injunction previously issued by that court and sentenced the defendant Thornton to imprisonment in the jail of Kanawha County for a period of six months and to pay a fine of $500.00. The foregoing judgment, originally entered August 9, 1951, was subsequently modified by the court on its own motion on August 30, 1951, during the same term of court, and, as modified, reduced the term of imprisonment to a period of thirty days in the county jail and the fine imposed to $250.00. The injunction which the defendant Thornton was charged with violating was issued against him and others, including DiTrapáno and Skeens, on August 4,1951, and enjoined and inhibited the defendant Thornton, individually and as President of Construction and Laborers Local Union No. 1353, A. F. of L., and other named defendants, from attack*241ing, assaulting, threatening, coercing or intimidating any employees of Hoosier Engineering Company, the plaintiff in the suit and the petitioner in this contempt proceeding; from damaging or destroying any property of the plaintiff or any of its employees; from congregating about or near a garage or any vehicles of the plaintiff or trespassing upon the premises of the plaintiff or the right of way of the Appalachian Electric Power Company; and from doing or committing any other unlawful act to prevent the plaintiff from performing work in constructing a power line for that company. The foregoing injunction, however, preserved the right of the local union to maintain not more than two peaceful pickets at the garage of the plaintiff and two peaceful pickets at points at least 25 feet from the right of way of the company on which the power line was in process of construction by the plaintiff. A copy of the injunction was posted on one of the trucks in the garage of the plaintiff on August 4, 1951, and at or near the door of the garage at 1:00 a. m. on August 6, 1951. A copy was also delivered to the defendant Thornton by a constable about 8:45 a. m. or 9:00 a. m. on August 6, 1951, while he was in a crowd of approximately 150 persons which had congregated upon the streets and the sidewalks near the garage of the plaintiff between 6:30 a. m. and 10:00 a. m. on that day. Though the defendant Thornton, in his verified answer to the petition upon which a rule returnable August 9, 1951, was issued on August 7, 1951, denied that he knew that the injunction had been awarded until after 11:00 a. m. on August 6, 1951, and in his testimony swore that he did not know of the existence of the injunction until he was served with a copy about 9:00 that morning, an employee of the petitioner testified that he told the defendant Thornton before 8:00 a. m. on August 6, 1951, that a copy of the injunction had been posted at the garage and that the defendant Thornton replied that the injunction meant nothing to him.
The petition upon which the rule was awarded and the rule charged the defendant Thornton with these acts in violation of the injunction: (1) That about 100 or 200 men *242armed with rubber hoses, ax handles, bricks, rocks, soft drink bottles and other weapons, and under the leadership of the defendant Thornton and a man named Skeens, surrounded the garage of the plaintiff at Clendenin Street and Virginia Street in Charleston, West Virginia, between 6:30 a. m. and 11:00 a. m. on August 5, 1951, and that those men, led by Thornton and Skeens, placed roofing nails in front of and behind the wheels on trucks of the petitioner, threw hard apples, tomatoes and other objects at its employees and vehicles, and broke a window in one of its trucks in its garage; and (2) that approximately 100 men led by the defendant Thornton and Skeens, in 10 or 12 passenger automobiles, armed with pipes, clubs and other weapons at about 11:00 a. m. on August 6, 1951, followed a group of 25 to 30 employees of the plaintiff from its garage at the corner of Clendenin Street and Virginia Street in Charleston to -their place of work near Grapevine Hollow and overtook the employees of the plaintiff at that place about noon, and that the defendant Thornton there threatened them with bodily harm if they proceeded with their work.
The assignments of error of the defendant Thornton that the circuit court erred in refusing to grant his motion for a continuance of the hearing and in permitting the amendment relating to the style of the proceeding were properly held to be without merit by the majority of the Court. In my opinion the action of the circuit court was also proper in denying the motion of the defendant Thornton that the witnesses called in behalf of the respective parties should be separated. All the witnesses appear to have been present together in the crowd in the courtroom during the hearing, and it is clear that the denial of the motion resulted in no prejudice to any right of the defendant Thornton.
I emphatically disagree with the holding of the majority that the action of the circuit court in permitting the introduction by the petitioner of evidence relating to the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton, on August 7, •1951, as one of the group of men with whom he associated *243at that time, constituted prejudicial error. Though the petition and the rule do not charge the defendant Thornton with the commission of any acts on August 7,1951, vio-lative of the injunction and, for that reason, any such acts established by evidence could not form the basis of any judgment of conviction in a criminal prosecution for contempt, evidence of the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 7, 1951, similar to those charged and shown by the evidence to have been committed and participated in by him on August 6, 1951, in violation of the injunction, was clearly admissible for the purpose of showing his motive or intent with respect to the acts and the conduct charged to have been committed by him on August 6, 1951. State v. Hudson, 128 W. Va. 655, 37 S. E. 2d 553, 163 A. L. R. 1265; State v. Lewis, 133 W. Va. 584, 57 S. E. 2d 513; State v. Evans, 136 W. Va. 1, 66 S. E. 2d 545. In State v. Hudson, 128 W. Va. 655, 37 S. E. 2d 553, 163 A. L. R. 1265; in which the defendant was indicted for violation of Section 11, Article 10, Chapter 25, Acts of the Legislature, 1939, Regular Session, this Court held in point 3 of the syllabus that: “In a criminal case proof of another offense chargeable to the defendant is admissible to show motive or intent, if such other offense is similar and near in point of time to, has some logical connection with, and tends to establish the commission of, the specific offense charged against the defendant, and indicates that such specific offense is part of a system of criminal action.” In the recent case of State v. Evans, 136 W. Va. 1, 66 S. E. 2d 545, a prosecution for criminal abortion, this Court also held that other and similar acts, prior to, contemporaneous with, or subsequent to, the act charged, may be shown when closely connected with it in point of time and which, if true, disclose criminal intent on the part of the defendant to commit the act charged if such subsequent acts are accompanied by evidence of prior or contemporaneous acts of like nature.
It is obvious that the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 7, 1951, as disclosed by the evidence, bear directly upon his intent relative to the acts *244and the conduct which he is charged to have committed on August 6, 1951; but even if the evidence relating to the act's and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 7,1951, should not have been admitted by the circuit court, its action in permitting the introduction of such evidence does not justify reversal of the judgment of the circuit court in this proceeding. It should be remembered that this proceeding was tried by the court in lieu of a jury; and the rule is well established in this jurisdiction that in the trial of a case by a court without a jury it will be presumed that the court rejected and refused to consider any incompetent testimony that may have been admitted during the trial. Rohrbaugh v. Rohrbaugh, 136 W. Va. 708, 68 S. E. 2d 361; Risher v. Wheeling Roofing and Cornice Company, 57 W. Va. 149, 49 S. E. 1016; First National Bank of Parkersburg v. Prager and Son, 50 W. Va. 660, 41 S. E. 363; Bailey v. Calfee, 49 W. Va. 630, 39 S. E. 642. “In a case tried by a court in lieu of a jury, it is not error in the court to hear illegal testimony, the court being fully competent to discard such evidence.” Point 2, Syllabus, Wells-Stone Mercantile Company v. Truax, 44 W. Va. 531, 29 S. E. 1006. Farley v. Farley, 136 W. Va. 598, 68 S. E. 2d 353; State for Use of Crumbacker v. Seabright, 15 W. Va. 590; Nutter v. Sydenstricker, 11 W. Va. 535. “When a case is tried by a court in lieu of a jury, it is not an error, for which the appellate court will reverse, to hear illegal testimony, if there be enough legal testimony to justify the judgment.” Point 1, Syllabus, Abrahams v. Swann, 18 W. Va. 274. Rohrbaugh v. Rohrbaugh, 136 W. Va. 708, 68 S. E. 2d 361; State v. Thacker Coal and Coke Company, 49 W. Va. 140, 38 S. E. 539; State v. Denoon, 34 W. Va. 139, 11 S. E. 1003; Nutter v. Sydenstricker, 11 W. Va. 535.
If the evidence of the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 7, 1951, admitted by the circuit court, had not been admitted, or if all the evidence of that character should be excluded and totally disregarded, the evidence which relates to the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 6, 1951, as charged against him in the petition and the rule, clearly *245supports and completely justifies the judgment of guilt rendered by the circuit court. See Maxwell v. Ford, 103 W. Va. 124, 136 S. E. 777; First National Bank of Parkersburg v. Prager and Son, 50 W. Va. 660, 41 S. E. 363; State v. Denoon, 34 W. Va. 139, 11 S. E. 1003; Nutter v. Sydenstricker, 11 W. Va. 535. The majority opinion expressly recognizes the rule that when a case is tried by a court in lieu of a jury the admission of illegal and improper evidence will not constitute reversible error and cites Farley v. Farley, 136 W. Va. 598, 68 S. E. 2d 353, as authority for that principle. In view of the evidence bearing upon the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 6 and 7, 1951, the statement in the majority opinion that the rule can not be applied in this proceeding ignores the rule and a situation to which it is clearly applicable and, in my judgment, is wholly unwarranted. If the rule does not apply in this proceeding it should not apply in any case which is tried by a court instead of a jury.
The evidence of the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 7, 1951, being clearly admissible, was properly considered by the circuit court for the purpose of determining the intent and the motive entertained by him while engaged on August 6, 1951, in the conduct charged against him; and though the circuit court found the defendant Thornton guilty because of the acts committed by him on both days, the finding as to his acts on August 7, 1951, does not vitiate or invalidate the judgment of his guilt or justify its reversal, if the judgment is based upon evidence which establishes beyond all reasonable doubt that the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton on August 6, 1951, constituted willful and deliberate violation of the injunction.
That the defendant Thornton, by his acts and conduct on August 6, 1951, wholly independently of his acts and conduct on August 7, 1951, willfully, intentionally, and deliberately violated the injunction is fully established by competent evidence beyond all reasonable doubt and even beyond any semblance of doubt. In the face of overwhelming proof of the guilt *of the defendant Thornton the hold*246ing of the majority that such evidence is not sufficient to establish his guilt not only absolves a manifestly guilty defendant of the just punishment which, by his flagrantly contemptuous and illegal acts and conduct, he justly deserves, but also nullifies and renders unenforceable a solemn and valid order of a court of justice which merely forbade and enjoined the commission of acts of violence, which, in any civilized community, are recognized and dealt with as unlawful and criminal in character. The injunction was not issued to settle any labor dispute but to prevent unlawful acts of violence. Under the evidence the defendant Thornton is as guilty of the acts charged against him as any defendant could possibly be and to say that the evidence does not sufficiently prove his guilt is to ignore and disregard facts which are fully established by clear and convincing proof.
It is not disputed, and the defendant Thornton admits, that he was continuously at or near the garage in Charleston from approximately 6:00 a. m. until 10:00 a. m. on August 6, 1951, and that a large group of men, many of whom were under his authority and subject to his direction and control, were also present at or near that place during that period of time. It is also proved, and the defendant Thornton by his testimony admits, that he was personally served with a copy of the injunction about 9:00 o’clock that morning while he was present in the group near the garage. There is also evidence that after he was served with a copy of the injunction, he looked at it, folded it, put it in his pocket, and then laughed and joked with members of the group. It is also clear beyond question that many of the men, who were members of the union of which he was president, armed with rubber hose, pick handles, wooden clubs, claw hammers, tire tools, shovels, bottles, stones, brickbats, and other articles, while he was continuously and personally present with them, committed numerous overt acts, such as throwing hard biscuits, apples, tomatoes and stones, at the employees and the property of the petitioner, obstructing the movement of one of its trucks, attempting to overturn another *247of its trucks, and attacking its operator. These acts, as expressed in the majority opinion, “would constitute violations of the injunction decree”; and it is unreasonable to assume or conclude that the defendant Thornton did not see or observe the acts of violence which occurred within the range of his vision, and which were committed by men who were subject to his authority as the president of the union to which he and they belonged.
That the defendant Thornton could have dispersed or restrained the group of men subject to his authority, at any time, had he so desired, is clearly established by the evidence of several witnesses and by his own admission that he kept them in check temporarily at Grapevine Hollow near the right of way where the employees of the petitioner desired to work on August 6, 1951, after he and they had followed them from the garage to that place and where he held a short conference with two or three employees of the petitioner in the group of men who wished to work and during which he threatened them with violence to them and their men unless they abandoned their work. Following this conversation, and because of the presence of the defendant Thornton and the men under his leadership and their threats and acts of violence if the employees of the petitioner engaged in work, those employees were prevented from performing their work and they returned to Charleston.
Except the dubious testimony of the defendant Thornton, and some of his associates, that he was present at both places on August 6, 1951, for the purpose of preventing his men from violating the injunction and that he endeavored to deter them from violating it, which testimony is conclusively refuted by the acts and the conduct of the defendant Thornton himself and the men subject to his authority, the evidence shows beyond question that, instead of attempting to control the conduct of his men, which he could have done quickly and effectively, he actually and openly acquiesced in, permitted and encouraged the acts of violence and the unlawful conduct perpetrated in his presence by persons under his authority, *248leadership and control. There is no substantial or convincing proof in this record which indicates that the defendant Thornton, during his continued presence at or near the garage from approximately 6:00 a. m. until 10:00 a. m. and afterwards at Grapevine Hollow on August 6, 1951, made the slightest effort to control or to check the activities of the men under his leadership and subject to his authority as the president of their union or to order or even to persuade them to disperse or to cease their unlawful acts in violation of the injunction, except during a short interval at Grapevine Hollow when they readily and promptly observed his request that they refrain from threats and acts of violence while he conferred with some of the employees of the petitioner. On the contrary several witnesses testified that after he was served with a copy of the injunction, and while he continued to remain with the group, he did nothing whatsoever to disperse or check the activities of his men. It is manifest that a mere command or gesture, either at the garage or at Grapevine Hollow, would have prevented most or all of the acts of the men subject to his authority in violation of the injunction on August 6 and 7, 1951; and his failure to give any such command shows his approval of their conduct and clearly establishes his guilt. The arrogant, contemptuous, willful, and deliberate conduct of the defendant Thornton in permitting and in not forbidding his men, in his presence, to utter threats, to commit overt acts of violence, and to threaten employees of the petitioner with violence at the garage and at Grapevine Hollow on August 6, 1951, established beyond any reasonable doubt by competent evidence, constituted a persistent violation of the injunction by him and fully justifies and sustains the judgment of guilt rendered by the circuit court.
This Court has consistently held with respect to the verdict of a jury in a criminal case, based on conflicting evidence, that “In a criminal case, a verdict of guilt will not be set aside on the ground that it is contrary to the evidence, where the state’s evidence is sufficient to convince impartial minds of the guilt of the accused beyond *249a reasonable doubt, though the evidence adduced by the accused is in conflict therewith. To warrant interference with a verdict of guilt on the ground of insufficiency of evidence, the court must be convinced that the evidence was manifestly inadequate and that consequent injustice has been done.” Point 1, Syllabus, State v. Bowles, 117 W. Va. 217, 185 S. E. 205. See also State v. Lewis, 133 W. Va. 584, 57 S. E. 2d 513; State v. Reppert, 132 W. Va. 675, 52 S. E. 2d 820; State v. Hacker, 130 W. Va. 91, 42 S. E. 2d 559. The decisions of this Court also uniformly hold that the findings of fact of a trial chancellor, based on conflicting evidence, will not be disturbed on appeal, unless they are clearly wrong or against the preponderance of the evidence. McCausland v. Jarrell, 136 W. Va. 569, 68 S. E. 2d 729; Holt Motors v. Casto, 136 W. Va. 284, 67 S. E. 2d 432; Adams v. Ferrell, 135 W. Va. 463, 63 S. E. 2d 840; Ghiz v. Savas, 134 W. Va. 550, 60 S. E. 2d 290; Carpenter v. Ohio River Sand and Gravel Corporation, 134 W. Va. 587, 60 S. E. 2d 212; Bennett v. Neff, 130 W. Va. 121, 42 S. E. 2d 793; Sutton v. Sutton, 128 W. Va. 290, 36 S. E. 2d 608; Taylor v. Taylor, 128 W. Va. 198, 36 S. E. 2d 601; Hardin v. Collins, 125 W. Va. 81, 23 S. E. 2d 916; Shipper v. Downey, 119, W. Va. 591, 197 S. E. 355; Spradling v. Spradling, 118 W. Va. 308, 190 S. E. 537; Tynes v. Shore, 117 W. Va. 355, 185 S. E. 845; Kincaid v. Evans, 106 W. Va. 605, 146 S. E. 620; Ramsey v. England, 85 W. Va. 101, 101 S. E. 73. Though the cases last cited are proceedings in equity where the degree of proof is less strict than that required in criminal cases, the rule recognized by those decisions applies to the weight to be given to the findings of fact by the court in the trial of a civil or criminal proceeding by a judge in lieu of a jury. A judgment of a trial court upon submission of all matters of law and fact is entitled to the same weight as a verdict of a jury, Board of Education of Hancock County v. Hartford Fire Insurance Company, 124 W. Va. 163, 19 S. E. 2d 448; Hoster-Columbus Associated Breweries Company v. Stag Hotel Corporation, 111 Va. 223, 68 S. E. 50; Gray v. Rumrill, 101 Va. 507, 44 S. E. 697; and such judgment will not be reversed unless it is *250plainly erroneous. Rohrbaugh v. Rohrbaugh, 136 W. Va. 708, 68 S. E. 2d 361; State v. Thacker Coal and Coke Company, 49 W. Va. 140, 38 S. E. 539; Abrahams v. Swann, 18 W. Va. 274.
As already pointed out the finding of guilt by the circuit court, which should be given the same weight as a verdict of a jury, is amply established beyond all reasonable doubt by competent evidence and the judgment of that court based upon such finding and supported by such evidence should not be reversed by this Court.
If, under the clear and convincing evidence of guilt disclosed by this record, the defendant Thornton can not be convicted of contempt for his willful and deliberate violation of the injunction, it is difficult to understand how any person, who observes, without objection or protest, acts of violence forbidden by a valid decree of a court of justice and committed in his presence by other persons subject to his authority and control, can ever be convicted and punished, or how obedience to such decree can be effectively enforced in any case, or even how the power and the dignity of a court of justice can be maintained and preserved. Contempt of court should not be lightly regarded. It is a serious offense. It strikes at the power, the dignity and the authority of the court and is subversive of good government. “The contemnor disregards the command of organized society proceeding through its court, relying for justification upon his own judgment although in violation of the established forms of law. When the courts cease to function in full force and vigor, society will revert to its primitive order.” State ex rel. Continental Coal Company v. Bittner, 102 W. Va. 677, 136 S. E. 202, 49 A. L. R. 968. Incredible as it may seem, the decision of the majority has indeed sanctioned and made effective the boastful and brazen remark of the defendant Thornton that the injunction meant nothing to him.
The defendant Thornton was fairly tried and justly convicted and, as no prejudicial error appears in the case, I would affirm the judgment of the circuit court.