Court Opinion

ID: 9720103
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:16:10.858806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:13.138219
License: Public Domain

ROUSE, J.
I respectfully dissent.
At oral argument, counsel for appellant conceded that, if the questions were proper, then she would not challenge the trial judge’s right to hold that appellant’s refusal to answer was an act of contempt. Therefore, in my view, the only issue before this court is whether appellant had the right to refuse to answer the questions “Do you have a husband?” and “What is [his] occupation?”
I cannot accept appellant’s assertion that her refusal to answer such innocuous questions is a matter of constitutional dimension. Both as a trial lawyer and a trial judge, I have asked similar questions of prospective jurors on many occasions, blissfully unaware of the sinister nature of the inference now ascribed to them by appellant. Clearly, it is a proper area of inquiry, generally addressed to both male and female members of a venire, but, until I read Justice Miller’s opinion, I was unaware of any requirement that such questions be put to each or to none. It seems to me that the matter of one’s marital status and occupation is a common subject of inquiry and discussion at any gathering of two or more persons, in a variety of settings, including (but certainly not confined *876to) social affairs, various agencies in the private and public sectors, and even in the courtroom.
The Hamilton case, relied upon by Justice Miller in his opinion (i.e., Hamilton v. Alabama (1964) 376 U.S. 650 [11 L.Ed.2d 979, 84 S.Ct. 982]) is readily distinguishable from the facts of this case. There the court’s behavior toward Mrs. Hamilton was personally demeaning with racial overtones. Here, there was nothing demeaning to appellant, either in the questions themselves or in the manner in which they were asked.
Appellant does not claim an invasion of her privacy, which would, of course, present an entirely different situation. Instead, by her responses to the judge’s inquiry, she was, in my view, telling him, apparently in a courteous, but nonetheless defiant, manner, that she did not approve of the way in which he conducted his court. No one would challenge her right to do this, in more appropriate circumstances. However, this was neither the time nor the place for such an admonition. We don’t know from the record how many members of the prospective venire were then present in the courtroom, nor do we know how many prospective jurors had already been asked the questions which have provoked this controversy. From appellant’s responses it may be assumed that there were other women who had been asked, and men who were not.
Even though appellant’s attendance on this occasion was that of a prospective juror, the fact that she was an attorney is, in my judgment, a significant feature of this scenario. How was this act of defiance by an officer of the court viewed by the laypersons present? The presiding officer’s authority was challenged —the gauntlet hurled in his face—how must he respond? By excusing her without further admonition or sanction, thereby creating an impression that, by refusing to answer questions, one can avoid jury duty? By a personal admonition at a later time in the privacy of the judge’s chambers, thereby lending credence to the belief that lawyers enjoy a special privilege of access to the judge—one which is not generally enjoyed by nonlawyers (often inaccurately characterized as “the old school tie” relationship)?
While the 15 minutes of custodial detention, which was imposed as a sanction, was somewhat severe in this instance (a minimal fine, suspended, might well have served the purpose), nevertheless this was more properly a matter for the trial court’s determination.
In United States v. Cantillon (C.D.Cal. 1970) 309 F.Supp. 700, the court pointed out that the failure to answer, in order to constitute a contempt by obstructing justice, would necessarily require a disruption of the court’s judicial business. Assuming a disruption of judicial business, to sustain a conviction the proof would have to establish that a defendant’s failure to answer caused a *877disruption of judicial business and that defendant’s failure to answer was not because of lack of understanding, but because of a deliberate refusal to answer. Of course, proof would undoubtedly be required to show that a defendant was aware of his duty to answer and his refusal constituted a defiance of the court. Furthermore, it is doubtful if a conviction could be sustained in the absence of an order by the court to a defendant to answer. (United States v. Cantillon, supra, at p. 703.)
In my opinion, all of the requisite elements were present in this case. The trial judge had no reasonable alternative available to him in these circumstances. More than once during their not unfriendly exchange he reminded appellant of her responsibility, as an attorney, to the court and that refusal to respond would constitute contempt. He then repeated the now famous (or infamous) question to which she replied, “I refuse to answer.”
Obviously, appellant views this matter as a manifestation of sexual bias and one of constitutional magnitude. She has successfully persuaded one of my colleagues on that point. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with either of my colleague’s resolution of the matter.
I would affirm the judgment.
The petition of defendant and respondent for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied August 11, 1983. Grodin, J., did not participate therein.