ROBERT MCCOY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed a criminal contempt conviction where the state failed to present competent and substantial evidence that the defendant intended to deceive the trial judge by sending a proposed order with an alleged forged signature.
A conviction for indirect criminal contempt cannot stand without competent and substantial evidence that the defendant acted with intent to deceive the court or that his actions were calculated to embarrass, hinder, obstruct, or lessen the court's authority.
[1] Indirect criminal contempt requires competent and substantial evidence of intent to deceive or actions calculated to embarrass, hinder, obstruct, or lessen the court's au…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobert McCoy, an inmate, used jail mail to send a trial judge a proposed order containing an alleged forgery of the judge's signature.…
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PER CURIAM.
Robert McCoy appeals an order adjudicating him guilty of indirect criminal contempt after he utilized inmate mail to send the trial judge an order containing an alleged “forgery” of her signature. We reverse the conviction because there was no competent and substantial evidence that McCoy filled out the proposed order, provided to him by officials at the jail, with the intent to deceive the trial judge, or anyone else, into believing the order had been executed by the trial judge. See Martin v. State, 728 So. 2d 775, 776 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (“To overcome a defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal in a ease based entirely on circumstantial evidence, the state has the burden of presenting evidence from which the jury can exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt.”). Put another way, there was simply no evidence that McCoy’s actions were “‘calculated to embarrass, hinder or obstruct the court in the administration of justice’ ” or “ ‘calculated to lessen [the court’s] authority or its dignity.’ ” Murrell v. State, 595 So. 2d 1049, 1050 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992) (defining criminal contempt) (quoting Ex Parte Crews, 127 Fla. 381, 173 So. 275, 279 (1937)).
Reversed and Remanded.
STEVENSON, C.J., GUNTHER and MAY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Ex parte Crews, 127 Fla. 381 (Fla. 1937)
- Donnie Murrell v. State, 595 So. 2d 1049 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)
- Dewayne Martin v. State, 728 So. 2d 775 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)