Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson hit attorney Lawrence Blackmon with no less than 63 criminal contempt of court citations as she fined him $6,300 on August 1.
Blackmon represented Charlie Thomas in a murder trial. The Canton attorney did well for his client as the jury found Thomas not guilty. However, Blackmon repeatedly sparred with the judge, much to his detriment. Judge Peterson said Blackmon repeatedly made snide comments to opposing counsel, ridiculed prosecutors, and intentionally tried to "irritate" prosecutors.
When the prosecution rested, Judge Peterson announced the trial would resume the next day at 9 AM. Blackmon informed the clerk his witness would not be available until 10 AM but the clerk told him to take it up with the judge, which the attorney did not do. 9:00 rolled around July 31 but Blackmon and his witness were nowhere to be found. The attorney finally appeared at 9:52 AM and informed the Court his witness was JPD investigator Bruce Triplett. Blackmon repeated his claim that Triplett would not be available until 10.
Triplett did not testify nor appear in the building. Judge Peterson pulled no punches:
The court finds the said actions were intentional misrepresentations as the entire testimony that day was from the two witnesses that were in place, and the defendant. Investigator Bruce Triplett never appeared in this building and was never called as a witness. The court deems that was his first contempt. The court also finds and it's noted in the trial that even if the witness was late, he should have been present at 9:00 a.m. to make the announcement to the court as directed by the court administrator, and the court could have advised the jury that there would be a delay in the proceeding and allow the court the opportunity to address the matter. By having not done so, it interrupted the orderly proceedings of the court.Judge Peterson held Blackmon in criminal contempt of court and fined him $100 for each minute he was late. She also noted he left the courtroom while the prosecution was making its closing argument without permission from the Court.
Blackmon filed a motion for reconsideration on August 11.
The motion argues Judge Peterson did not specify which comments were the basis for the alleged violation. Blackmon had a right to a "hearing and notice." Since Judge Peterson did not specify which remarks were at issue, the attorney had no notice of what was being punished. The ten counts of contempt must be vacated states the motion.
Mr. Blackmon took issue with the $5,200 fine for being late to court. He claims a 1991 Mississippi Supreme Court case limits the fine to $100, citing Rule 5.01. As for not calling the JPD detective as a witness, Blackmon stated he did not call the witness as there was no need to do so as his other two witness provided testimony that was very exculpatory.
The Canton attorney was recently found guilty of contempt of court in Madison County Circuit Court. Madison County Circuit Judge Dewey Arthur fined Blackmon $1,951 and ordered him to serve 8 hours of community service after he failed to appear for a trial on August 4.
Blackmon had filed a notice of appeal with the Court prior to filing the motion for reconsideration. He withdrew the notice of appeal after filing the motion. It is a safe bet he will appeal if Judge Peterson denies his motion.
10 comments:
what peterson is attempting to do is to hand down a disciplinary sanction against blackmon.
only the mississippi state bar association is allowed to do that.
there is a fine line between contempt of court and attorney misconduct.
its unfortunate that 50% of judges dont understand that.
contempt and misconduct are like apples and oranges , they are not the same thing.
oh how the pathetic trolls of JJ will feast on this inconvenient truth.
the trolls are just like the judges, they dont understand the difference either.
As a technical matter, the notice of appeal wasn't withdrawn. As a prematurely-filed notice of appeal, it becomes effective automatically when the motion for reconsideration is ruled on.
I suspect an evidentiary hearing would just give him an opportunity to dig the hole deeper.
you suspect wrong..........................as usual.
12:03 I totally agree with your legal gooblygob but what about the money he solicited from the hood boys while leaving the courthouse? Was that for the fines or the after party! And yes, I want an invite!
Mr Blackmon or whatever your real name is, Huggy Lowdown would say,
“ you are the bamma of the week”.
This is not the law. Look at Rule 1(b) of the rules of discipline for the bar. Essentially it says nothing in the rules of discipline prevents a court, even in Hinds County, from exercising its power to hold lawyers in contempt. Now, there may be an excessive fine argument but this is not a disciplinary matter Faye is trying. If I were her, I would include language in my contempt citation that says she is going to send a copy to the Bar per her obligation to report possible violations of the rules of professional conduct under the judicial canons.
Give this jackass his day in court. Better keep the meter running on the contempt violations, especially if it’s open to the public and he has a crowd to perform for.
One of Canton's best. Damn I'm proud. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
The only bad pub is no pub at all - Donald J Trump
Are ya’ll reading the motion? The DA’s office is putting perjurers on the stand again. Just like in Anthony Fox. Does THAT bother anyone?
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