DENISE NEWRY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1995-05-31
No. 94-1612
GLICKSTEIN and STONE, JJ., concur.
654 So. 2d 1292 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1995) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Holding

A criminal contempt proceeding for perjury that requires an evidentiary hearing to establish facts not within the judge's knowledge is not summary, and therefore, a subsequent prosecution for the same perjury is barred by double jeopardy.


Headnotes

[1] Double jeopardy bars a subsequent prosecution for perjury when the defendant has already been held in direct criminal contempt and punished for the same act, provided the…

[2] A contempt proceeding is not summary when the court must conduct evidentiary hearings to inform itself of facts not within its own knowledge.

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Facts & Procedural History

Defendant was found in direct criminal contempt and jailed for perjury during a probation violation hearing. Four days later, the state charged her wi…

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Opinion of the Court
FARMER, Judge.

FARMER, Judge.

Newry was held in direct criminal contempt and sentenced to five months in the county jail for perjury committed during a hearing on whether she had violated her probation. Four days after sentencing, the state charged her by information with committing the same perjury. She moved to dismiss the information on the grounds that it was barred by the double jeopardy clause, because she was found in contempt and jailed for the same act. The trial judge denied her motion; she pleaded no contest and reserved the issue; she now appeals from the final judgment convicting her of the charge and placing her on probation. We reverse.

The contempt proceeding was not summary. At the first hearing, she denied that she had ever used any other name and stated specifically that she was not the Jacqueline Newry who had been placed on probation by another judge in a separate proceeding. On the next day she was placed under oath and again denied that she was Jacqueline. She was fingerprinted at that hearing, which was then recessed so that an expert could compare the prints.

Two days later, another hearing was held, at which the state proffered expert testimony that the two Newry’s were the same person. The trial judge told her that if the proffer turned out to be correct after an evidentiary hearing, he would hold her in contempt for perjury on the two previous occasions. He also announced that he would hold a consolidated hearing on the two alleged contempts, unless she and the state could work out a plea. They did and she was punished as described.

Whether double jeopardy bars the information turns on whether the contempt proceeding was summary. The state argues that her contempt was direct because it was committed in the presence of the court and that she was thus summarily punished. We think the state has misconstrued the proceedings. The contempt may have been committed in the presence of the judge— after all, she did lie to him — but that hardly means that the ensuing contempt proceeding was necessarily summary. In fact, the state’s brief itself betrays the nonsummary nature of this proceeding by its use of the following quotation:

“We think ‘summary’ as used in [Rule 42(a) ] does not refer to the timing of the action with reference to the offense but refers to a procedure which dispenses with the formality, delay and digression that would result from the issuance of process, service of complaint and answer, arguments, awaiting briefs, submission of findings, and all that goes with a conventional court trial. The purpose of that procedure is to inform the court of events not within its own knowledge. The rule allows summary procedure only as to offenses within the knowledge of the judge because the occurred in his presence.”

See Sacher v. United States, 343 U.S. 1, 9, 72 S.Ct. 451, 455, 96 L.Ed. 717 (1952). The record indisputably shows that the court did not know whether she was the Jacqueline Newry who had been convicted previously. Two hearings were required to settle that issue, so that the court could inform itself of facts not within its own knowledge.

It would be a rare occasion when a trial judge could summarily punish contempt committed by perjury. As then-judge An-stead wrote in Emanuel v. State, 601 So. 2d 1273 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992):

“Under [State v.] Coleman, [138 Fla. 555, 189 So. 713 (1939)] the court should not ‘weigh the conflicting evidence’ to de-^ermine if a witness is being truthful. In other words, the mere fact that the court believes one witness over another is insufficient to establish judicial knowledge that a witness’ testimony is false for the purpose of summarily adjudicating the witness in direct criminal contempt. To hold otherwise would create a chilling effect on a party’s exercise of his constitutional right to freedom of speech, access to the courts, and due process, [c.o.] Direct criminal contempt is a criminal sanction that may result in serious consequences, including immediate imprisonment.

Ordinarily, under our constitutionally mandated system of due process, criminal sanctions cannot be imposed unless the full panoply of due process rights are applied. That is why, in the ordinary situation where perjury is suspected, a state prosecution for perjury is the preferred alternative.”

601 So. 2d at 1275. We believe that here the judge avoided a summary proceeding to punish the perjury when first committed for the very reasons articulated by Judge Anstead. His nonsummary treatment in this case means that the state could not bring the separate statutory perjury prosecution after it had already assisted in the prosecution of the same act as contempt.

REVERSED.

GLICKSTEIN and STONE, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Sparks v. State, 740 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)
    …erse trial judges when they do not take the initiative to correct fundamental mistakes during a trial. If a witness commits perjury in the courtroom, the trial court has authority to hold the witness in direct criminal contempt. See Newry v. State, 654 So. 2d 1292 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); Emanuel v. State, 601 So. 2d 1273 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). The power to hold a witness in contempt for perjury is limited, but it would be proper to exercise that power in a case such as this one where the witness has signed an affi…
  • Hutcheson v. State, 903 So. 2d 1060 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)
    …gave false testimony. The State concedes noncompliance with rule 3.830 and accordingly that reversal is necessary. A witness who commits perjury during trial may be punished by the trial court by way of direct criminal contempt. See Newry v. State, 654 So. 2d 1292 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); Emanuel v. State, 601 So. 2d 1273 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). In Emanuel, the fourth district observed that where perjury is suspected, a state prosecution-for perjury should be given consideration as an alternative to a contempt proce…
  • Laudi Diaz v. State, 845 So. 2d 336 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)
    …az was guilty of criminal contempt. See Rhoads v. State, 817 So. 2d 1089 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)(for a witness to be held in direct criminal contempt based on purported penurious testimony there must be judicial knowledge of the falsity); Newry v. State, 654 So. 2d 1292 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)(‘[T]he mere fact that the court believes one witness over another is insufficient to establish judicial knowledge [of false testimony]’, citing from Emanuel v. State, 601 So. 2d 1273 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)); Emanuel, 601 So. 2d at 1…

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