Court Opinion

ID: 9665742
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:55:51.176428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:18.122914
License: Public Domain

CADENA, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the result. However, I would base the holding that defendant is entitled to a jury trial solely on the fact that this is a civil suit for the recovery of statutory penalties rather than a criminal contempt proceeding. We would, by so limiting our holding, avoid the “difficult question whether a charge of” criminal contempt “requires . . . jury trial.” Shillitani v. United States, 384 U.S. 364, 365, 86 S.Ct. 1531, 1533, 16 L.Ed.2d 622, 624 (1966). I do not believe that either Cheff v. Schnackenberg, 384 U.S. 373, 86 S.Ct. 1523, 16 L.Ed.2d 629 (1966), decided on the same day as Shillatani, nor Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968), gives a definitive answer to the constitutional question.