R.C. v. State, 648 So. 2d 1258 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). · Go Syfert
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R.C. v. State, 648 So. 2d 1258 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
9 citation events (4 in the last 25 years) across 1 distinct court.
Strongest positive: McKenzie v. State, 840 So. 2d 414 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)
How cited ↗
Cited for
At page 1259 Determining contempt for conduct outside courtroom3 citing casesFla. 3d DCA1 citing court put it this way
  • McKenzie v. State, 840 So. 2d 414 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003).published
    R.C. v. State, 648 So.2d 1258, 1259 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995); Martinez v. State, 339 So.2d 1133, 1135 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Saunders v. State, 319 So.2d 118, 124 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975).
  • Ippolito v. State, 678 So. 2d 381 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996).published
    (Fla. 3d DCA)
  • Hoeffer v. State, 696 So. 2d 1265 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).published
    See Murrell v. State, 595 So.2d 1049 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992); see also, e.g., cases cited in R.C., 648 So.2d at 1259.
Other citing cases1 with no pin cite or quoted language on record
R.C., a Juvenile, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
94-2064.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Feb 1, 1995.
Published opinion
648 So. 2d 1258
1995 WL 36145
1995 Fla. App. LEXIS 593
Schwartz, C.J., and Barkdull and Goderich.
Published

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Julie M. Levitt and Donald Tunnage, Sp. Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Joni Braunstein, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

[*1259] Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BARKDULL and GODERICH, JJ.

SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

On the way into the courtroom for his delinquency hearing, the juvenile appellant kicked the courtroom door. When the bailiff, who was following him, told him not to do that, R.C. told him in return to "go f____k yourself."[1] We hold that the trial judge properly found, on the basis of this conduct, that R.C. was guilty of direct criminal contempt. In our view, even though the incident occurred technically outside the courtroom, the scatological language directed at an officer of the court in the due execution of his duty was clearly "calculated to lessen [the court's] authority or its dignity," and was therefore contemptuous. Ex parte Crews, 127 Fla. 381, 389, 173 So. 275, 279 (1937); see Woody v. State ex rel. Allen, 572 P.2d 241 (Okla. Crim. App. 1977) (defendant leaving courtroom making obscene gestures and threatening police officer-witnesses found to be willfully contemptuous); Estes v. State, 192 Miss. 400, 6 So.2d 132 (1942) (witness gritting teeth and scowling at district attorney in threatening manner in courtroom and stating "I'll see you when you come down" constitutes contempt); see also Carroll v. State, 350 So.2d 723 (Ala. Crim. App. 1977) (venireperson using vulgar language to court reporter in courtroom while judge temporarily absent constitutes constructive contempt); People v. Reeves, 23 Ill. App.3d 579, 319 N.E.2d 567 (1974) (respondent striking assistant state attorney in corridor outside courtroom constitutes indirect criminal contempt).[2]

Affirmed.

1 The judge was also in the area and himself heard the offending remark. After the hearing, which was therefore properly conducted summarily under Fla.R.Juv.P. 8.285(a), see Fla. R.Crim.P. 3.830, he concluded that the statement had been directed only at the bailiff, and not at him.
2 This case does not involve the perceived procedural deficiency, and we do not share the self-tortured reticence to enforce the trial court's contempt authority which together drove the decision in Schenck v. State, 645 So.2d 71 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). Indeed, this court has very recently PCA'd a determination that a defendant who, almost exactly like Schenck, said "f____k you" as she was leaving the courtroom, was in contempt. See Best v. State, 648 So.2d 734 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994).