Court Opinion

ID: 9760464
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:56:02.378927+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:11.488968
License: Public Domain

EDELMAN, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority opinion, Williams, and Jackson that a finding of criminal contempt in a civil proceeding should not bar a subsequent criminal prosecution for the same conduct. In addition to the reasons given in those opinions, holding a defendant in contempt, on the one hand, and prosecuting him for a crime, on the other, are remedies for injuries to distinct interests. Contempt preserves the integrity of the court system whereas criminal prosecution preserves the security of citizens of the State.1
An analogous difference in interests underlies the “dual sovereignty” doctrine which allows successive prosecutions by a State and the federal government,2 or by different states:
The dual sovereignty doctrine is founded on the common-law conception of crime as an offense against the sovereignty of the government. When a defendant in a single act violates the “peace and dignity” of two sovereigns by breaking the laws of each, he has committed two distinct “of-fences.”
Heath v. Alabama, 474 U.S. 82, 88, 106 S.Ct. 433, 437, 88 L.Ed.2d 387 (1985). The crucial determination is whether the two entities that seek to successively prosecute for the same conduct can be termed as separate sovereigns, that is, whether they draw their authority from distinct sources of power. Id. In this case, the finding of contempt was sought by a private party, namely appellant’s ex-wife, and was not sought by or on behalf of the State or any governmental entity, although the power of the State is used to obtain and enforce such a contempt order.
In addition, the practical disadvantages of finding a successive criminal contempt and criminal prosecution to be double jeopardy are considerable. First, given that injuries to different interests are remedied by each, applying double jeopardy in this context means that, at most, only one of the two injuries can be redressed. Second, for a party seeking to enforce an order in a civil case, double jeopardy poses the dilemma whether to (a) seek contempt and risk cutting off the possibility of subsequent criminal prosecution, perhaps even if unsuccessful,3 or (b) seek criminal prosecution and thereby risk not only losing any ability to tailor the result of the contempt proceeding to compel the desired conduct, but also risk that the punishment assessed in the criminal prosecution would itself cut off the respondent’s ability to comply with the civil order. Similarly, due to the quasi-criminal nature of punitive damages,4 courts would arguably be prohibited from awarding punitive damages against a defendant who has previously been *196prosecuted criminally for the same conduct, and vice versa.
Unfortunately, however, I do not agree that Dixon left the issue open to us. Dixon unequivocally held that both Dixon and Foster could not be prosecuted for conduct for which they were previously punished with criminal contempt. Dixon, 509 U.S. at 699-701, 711-12, 113 S.Ct. at 2858, 2864. Faced with this clear holding, we are not at liberty to maintain an exception based on speculation as to what arguments Dixon might or might not have taken into consideration. Therefore, although I agree with the holding of Williams, Jackson, and the majority opinion in this case, I do not believe that they are in accordance with Dixon.

. See Williams, 799 S.W.2d at 306 (citing State v. Newell, 532 So.2d 1114 (Fla.App.1988); State v. Sammons, 656 S.W.2d 862 (Tenn.Crim.App.1982)).

. See United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 320, 98 S.Ct. 1079, 1084, 55 L.Ed.2d 303 (1978).

. The double jeopardy clause protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal or conviction, as well as against multiple punishments for the same offense. Ortiz v. State, 933 S.W.2d 102, 105 (Tex.Crim.App.1996) (citing Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 104 S.Ct. 2536, 81 L.Ed.2d 425 (1984)). For double jeopardy purposes, if a finding of criminal contempt is a "conviction” or "punishment,” then seeking criminal contempt is arguably a "prosecution,” and a finding of no criminal contempt is arguably an “acquittal” which would bar successive criminal prosecutions.

.See Transportation Ins. Co. v. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d 10, 16-17 (Tex.1994).