Court Opinion

ID: 9448147
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:24:19.990272+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:18.570282
License: Public Domain

DUFFY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority opinion that the convictions under Specifications 5 and 7 should be reversed. I also agree that Judge Miner did not err in failing to ask the Executive Committee to assign another judge to hear the charges of contempt.
I would also reverse as to Specification 6. The majority opinion describes the difficulties the plaintiff’s counsel McConnell encountered in trying to preserve his client’s rights. The attorneys for plaintiff were driven to a sense of frustration due to the District Court’s rulings on offers of proof. Under such circumstances, it is understandable that an attorney might say things which should not have been said. I think that was the situation in the case at bar.
However, the majority opinion does not adequately present the setting in which the McConnell statement was made. He addressed the Court as follows: “We have a right to ask questions which we offer on this issue, and Your Honor can sustain their objection to them. We don’t have a right to read the answers, but we have a right to ask the questions, and we propose to do so unless some bailiff stops us.” McConnell’s statement occurred during the reading of the deposition of Howard E. Simpson, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Simpson was a defendant. One of plaintiff’s attorneys was reading portions of Simpson’s adverse examination to lay the foundation for an offer of proof. The statement made by McConnell was followed almost immediately by a recess. When the court session was resumed, Mr. McConnell complied with the Court’s ruling, and did not persist in asking the particular questions.
It might be noted that counsel’s vigorous insistence on preserving his client’s rights bore fruit, as the trial judge later changed his ruling. Counsel was then permitted to ask questions in the presence of the jury as a condition precedent to the offers of proof made in accordance with Rule 43(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Mr. McConnell has had much trial experience. Even under the stress of the exasperating conditions such as he encountered, he should never have threatened to continue asking the questions in view of the Court’s rulings, although he felt certain the rulings were incorrect. After the recess, when he had had time to cool down and consider the language *318used, he should have apologized to the Court.
Nevertheless, Mr. McConnell did comply with the Court’s order. At that point .there was no interference with the conduct of the trial. There was no obstruction in the administration of justice. In my view, the conviction for criminal contempt under Specification 6 should also be reversed.