Court Opinion

ID: 9760992
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:27:52.534068+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:19.483599
License: Public Domain

BURNETT, Justice,
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s disposition of two of relator’s contentions. An original habeas corpus proceeding is a collateral attack upon the contempt order, and the relator may be relieved of that order’s impositions only if the order is void. Ex parte Dustman, 538 S.W.2d 409, 410 (Tex.1976). To my mind, in the present case, the order is void for two reasons. First the underlying divorce decree is ambiguous. Second, the contempt order fails to contain a necessary recitation pertaining to the right to counsel or waiver of right to counsel. Consequently, I would sustain relator’s third and sixth contentions.
Relator contends in his third point that the contempt order is void to the extent it sought to enforce the divorce decree because the divorce decree, which orders the relator to pay child support in the amount of $250 per month in two installments of $112.50, is ambiguous. In Ex parte Slavin, 412 S.W.2d 43 (Tex.1967), the Texas Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether the terms of a child support order were “definite” and “certain” enough to be enforced by contempt. The Supreme Court stated:
It is an accepted rule of law that for a person to be held in contempt for disobeying a court decree, the decree must spell out the details of compliance in clear, specific and unambiguous terms so that such person will readily know exactly what duties or obligations are imposed upon him.
Id. at 44.
The divorce decree in the case before us is subject to different interpretations concerning the amount relator must pay. Relator must pay either $250 per month or $112.50 twice a month. Because it is subject to more than one interpretation, the divorce decree does not set out relator’s obligations in “clear, specific and unambiguous terms” as required by Slavin. In Ex parte Longoria, 671 S.W.2d 673 (Tex.App. —San Antonio 1984, orig. proceeding), the court, in concluding that the Texas Supreme Court in Slavin focused only upon the ambiguity in the order, held an ambiguity was enough to keep the order from being enforced by an adjudication of contempt. Id. at 675. Thus, following the Texas Supreme Court’s express holding in Slavin, I conclude that the ambiguity of the divorce decree renders it unenforceable. I would sustain relator’s third point of error.
In his sixth point, relator contends that the contempt order is void because it does not contain a recitation that the trial court informed him of his right to counsel and that the relator knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel. Relator bases this contention on Ex parte Martinez, 775 S.W.2d 455 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1989, orig. proceeding). This Court in Martinez, in turn, relied heavily on Ex parte Gunther, *763758 S.W.2d 226 (Tex.1988) (per curiam), a decision in which the Texas Supreme Court held that such a recitation was necessary in a contempt order. The majority in the case before us concludes that Martinez misinterpreted the supreme court in Gunther.
In Gunther, the Texas Supreme Court held that section 14.32(f) of the Family Code places a duty on the trial court to inform a relator who is not represented by an attorney of his right to counsel. Section 14.32(f) provides in part:
If incarceration is possible, the court shall inform a respondent who is not represented by an attorney of his right to be represented and his right to the appointment of an attorney if he is indigent. If the respondent claims indigency and asks for appointment of an attorney, the court shall require him to file an affidavit and may call witnesses and hear any relevant testimony or other evidence to determine the question of indigency. If the court determines that the respondent is indigent, an attorney shall be appointed to represent him.
Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 14.32(f) (Vernon Supp.1990).
In holding that the trial court was without authority to hold the relator in contempt, the supreme court in Gunther determined that “the order of contempt [was] contrary to the requirements of § 14.32(f)....” Gunther, 758 S.W.2d at 227 (emphasis added). Thus, the supreme court found error not in the contempt hearing, but in the actual order of contempt. In deciding that the trial court did not follow section 14.32(f), the supreme court specifically held that the order of contempt did not comply with the requirements of section 14.32(f). This express language can only mean that the order of contempt must contain a recitation, tracing the language of section 14.32(f), showing that the trial court “inform[ed] [the relator] ... of his right to be represented and his right to the appointment of an attorney if he is indigent.”
Any waiver of a right to counsel must be done so “knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.” Ex parte McIntyre, 730 S.W.2d 411, 415 (Tex.App. — San Antonio 1987, orig. proceeding). Thus, the recitation should include as well language that the relator “knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily” waived his right to counsel.
Also, a comparison can be made with the protections afforded defendants accused in criminal cases in determining whether the order of contempt should require a recitation that the relator was informed of his right to counsel and that the relator knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived the right. It is well established that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution incorporates the Sixth Amendment assurance that the accused in a criminal prosecution has the right to assistance of counsel. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 342-43, 83 S.Ct. 792, 795-96, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963).
An accused in a criminal prosecution may waive the right to counsel. Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25, 37, 92 S.Ct. 2006, 2012, 32 L.Ed.2d 530 (1972); Ex parte Ross, 522 S.W.2d 214, 220 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1018, 96 S.Ct. 454, 46 L.Ed.2d 390 (1975). The waiver, however, must be made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 835, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2541, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); Barbour v. State, 551 S.W.2d 371, 372 (Tex.Crim.App.1977). Also, the record must be sufficiently developed to show that the waiver was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Trevino v. State, 555 S.W.2d 750, 753 (Tex.Crim.App.1977). The Texas Supreme Court in Ex parte Auten, 458 S.W.2d 466 (Tex.Crim.App.1970), quoting from Carnley v. Cochran, 369 U.S. 506, 516, 82 S.Ct. 884, 890, 8 L.Ed.2d 70 (1962), observed:
Presuming waiver from a silent record is impermissible. The record must show or there must be an allegation and evidence which show, that an accused was offered counsel but intelligently and understandingly rejected the offer. Anything less is not waiver.
Id. at 469.
The Texas Supreme Court, comparing contempt proceedings to criminal proceedings, held in Ex parte Johnson, 654 S.W.2d 415 (Tex.1983):
Because contempt proceedings are triggered by actions which defy the state’s *764authority and entail possible penal sanctions, Texas courts have consistently held that alleged constructive con-temnors are entitled to procedural due process protections before they may be held in contempt.
We perceive no meaningful distinction between an individual’s rights which are at stake in a constructive criminal contempt hearing ... and those at stake in an ordinary criminal trial where confinement is a possible penal sanction.
Id. at 420-21.
Article 42.01, section 1(2), of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires the judgment to reflect:
[t]hat the case was called and the parties appeared, naming the attorney for the State, the defendant, and the attorney for the defendant, or where a defendant is not represented by counsel, that the defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived the right to representation by counsel.
Protection similar to those given an accused in a criminal prosecution must be afforded to the relator. See Ex parte Goodman, 742 S.W.2d 536, 540-41 (Tex.App. — Fort Worth 1987, orig. proceeding). Family Code section 14.32(f) does just that by providing the relator with the right to counsel in cases in which incarceration is possible. Because a contempt order incarcerating a relator is so similar to a judgment incarcerating a criminal defendant, the requirements of each should be the same. Thus, the recitation in an order of contempt must show that the trial court informed the relator of his right to counsel and that the relator knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived the right. Because the order in this case fails to contain this recitation, I would sustain relator's sixth point of error.
For the above reasons, I would grant the writ of habeas corpus and discharge relator from custody.