REPORT TITLE:
Contempt


DESCRIPTION:
Creates a petty misdemeanor offense under the criminal contempt
statute to cover instances where a person recklessly disobeys or
resists process, injunction or other court mandate.

 
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                                                        2753
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO CONTEMPT.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 710-1077, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by amending subsections (1), (2), and (3) to read as
 
 3 follows:
 
 4      "(1)  A person commits the offense of criminal contempt of
 
 5 court if:
 
 6      (a)  The person recklessly engages in disorderly or
 
 7           contemptuous behavior, committed during the sitting of
 
 8           a court in its immediate view and presence, and
 
 9           directly tending to interrupt its proceedings or impair
 
10           the respect due to its authority;
 
11      (b)  The person creates a breach of peace or a disturbance
 
12           with intent to interrupt a court's proceedings;
 
13      (c)  As an attorney, clerk, or other officer of the court,
 
14           the person knowingly fails to perform or violates a
 
15           duty of the person's office, or knowingly disobeys a
 
16           lawful directive or order of a court;
 
17      (d)  The person knowingly publishes a false report of a
 
18           court's proceedings;
 
19      (e)  Knowing that the person is not authorized to practice
 

 
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 1           law, the person represents the person's self to be an
 
 2           attorney and acts as such in a court proceeding;
 
 3      (f)  The person intentionally records or attempts to record
 
 4           the deliberation of a jury;
 
 5      (g)  The person knowingly disobeys or resists the process,
 
 6           injunction, or other mandate of a court;
 
 7      (h)  The person recklessly disobeys or resists the process,
 
 8           injunction, or other mandate of a court;
 
 9     [(h)] (i)  The person intentionally refuses to be qualified
 
10           as a witness in any court or, after being qualified, to
 
11           answer any proper interrogatory without a privilege to
 
12           refuse to answer;
 
13     [(i)] (j)  Being a juror, the person intentionally, without
 
14           permission of the court, fails to attend a trial or
 
15           official proceeding to which the person has been
 
16           summoned or at which the person has been chosen to
 
17           serve; or
 
18     [(j)] (k)  The person is in violation or disobedience of any
 
19           injunction or order expressly provided for in part V of
 
20           chapter 712.
 
21      (2)  Except as provided in subsections (1)(h), (3), and (7),
 
22 criminal contempt of court is a misdemeanor.  Criminal contempt
 
23 of court, as provided in subsection (1)(h), is a petty
 

 
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 1 misdemeanor.
 
 2      (3)  The court may treat the commission of an offense under
 
 3 subsection (1) as a petty misdemeanor[, in which case:
 
 4      (a)  If] and may order summary conviction and disposition if
 
 5           the offense was committed in the immediate view and
 
 6           presence of the court, or under such circumstances that
 
 7           the court has knowledge of all of the facts
 
 8           constituting the offense[, the court may order summary
 
 9           conviction and disposition; and
 
10      (b)  If the offense was not committed in the immediate view
 
11           and presence of the court, nor under such circumstances
 
12           that the court has knowledge of all of the facts
 
13           constituting the offense, the court shall order the
 
14           defendant to appear before it to answer a charge of
 
15           criminal contempt of court; the trial, if any, upon the
 
16           charge shall be by the court without a jury; and proof
 
17           of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt shall be required
 
18           for conviction]."
 
19      SECTION 2.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that
 
20 matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were
 
21 begun, before its effective date.
 
22      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
23 New statutory material is underscored.
 

 
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 1      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 2 
 
 3                       INTRODUCED BY:  ___________________________
 

 
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