JOHNNY JOHNSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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A non-party who makes affirmative representations and assumes responsibility in a court proceeding can be held in contempt for refusing to obey the court's order.
Appellant, acting as an interpreter and negotiator, assured the court he would undertake responsibility for two women and ensure their delivery to imm…
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WENTWORTH, Judge.
Appellant seeks review of a judgment and sentence entered upon a finding that appellant committed an indirect criminal contempt. Since appellant has failed to present any point of reversible error, we affirm the order appealed.
Appellant is a self-proclaimed “King of the Gypsies” who often intercedes on behalf of gypsies involved in the American legal system. The present case involves representations appellant made as interpreter and plea negotiator for two gypsy women charged with burglary. The transcript of the plea proceeding indicates that the court would not have accepted the negotiated plea without appellant’s assurance to the effect that he would undertake responsibility for the women and insure their transportation and delivery to immigration officials, and thereafter advise the court by affidavit as to the women’s status. However, the women were not delivered to immigration officials, and it appears that appellant misrepresented to the court the circumstances of the women’s transportation. Appellant also failed to make any affidavit as to the women’s status.
Although appellant was not a party to the prior proceeding, in appropriate circumstances a non-party may be held in contempt. Cf. Husky v. Safer, 419 So. 2d 1158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). In the present case appellant’s extensive participation in both plea negotiations and the in-court proceeding, culminating in affirmative material representations and an express assumption of responsibility, are sufficient circumstances to render appellant susceptible of a contempt adjudication, as defined in § 38.-23, Florida Statutes, upon a “refusal to obey” the court’s order. The judgment and sentence appealed are affirmed.
LARRY G. SMITH and JOANOS, JJ., concur.
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Shook v. Alter, 729 So. 2d 527 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)…5 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978) and Lindman v. Ellis, 658 So. 2d 632, n. 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). Non-parties can be held in criminal contempt. Doe v. Watson, 507 So. 2d 1164 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987); In re Elrod, 455 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Johnson v. State, 444 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).…
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DOE v. Hon. John W. Watson, III, 507 So. 2d 1164 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)…order. See R.M.P. v. Jones, 419 So. 2d 618 (Fla.1982). One who is not a party to an action, but who has knowingly interfered with a court order, may be held in contempt. See, e.g., In re Elrod, 455 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Johnson v. State, 444 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). However, petitioners, as the legal adoptive parents of the child, clearly have an important interest in this case which warrants protection.2 They are the adoptive parents of this child based on a presumptively valid judgment o…
Authorities Cited
- Husky v. Honorable Louis Safer, 419 So. 2d 1158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)