Kober v. State

MacDanjel, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Michael Kober, the appellant, was subpoenaed to appear as the State’s witness in the case of State v. Quinton Donnell Owens, tried in May 1978, in the Circuit Court for Washington County. During that trial he was found in direct (criminal) contempt of court. 1 He now appeals that finding. ¹⁷⁵ When the appellant was called to the stand, he immediately announced that he did not intend to testify. The trial judge advised him that his failure to testify might result in his being held in contempt of court.

The appellant then answered questions establishing that he was an inmate at the Maryland Correctional Institution on the date of the incident for which Quinton Donnell Owens was being tried. When he was asked whether he was in a certain area of the prison and whether he had ever seen State’s Exhibit No. 2 (a knife), the appellant stated that he didn’t wish to answer. The court then instructed the appellant to answer, but he continued to refuse. At no time did the appellant indicate his reasons for refusing to testify.

The trial judge held the appellant in contempt of court and, later, stated: “Your refusal was an unprivileged refusal to answer two relevant questions, and this Court found you in contempt.” The appellant was sentenced to a period of six months imprisonment to be served consecutively to the sentence which the appellant was then serving. The appellant argues that, because there had been no inquiry by the trial judge as to whether his refusal to testify was privileged under his Fifth Amendment right against compulsory self-incrimination, 2 there was no basis for the finding of contempt. We agree. The Court of Appeals stated in State v. Roll and Scholl, 267 Md. 714, 727 , 298 A. 2d 867, 875 (1373): “Historically, criminal contempts were positive acts which offended the dignity or process of the court.

Holding an offending party in contempt of court was ¹⁷⁶ designed to vindicate the authority and power of the court and punish disobedience to its orders.” While a witness’s (as opposed to defendant’s) refusal to testify may offend the process of the court, the refusal does not offend that process if it is privileged under a Fifth Amendment right against compulsory self-incrimination. See Gardner v. State, 10 Md. App. 691 , 272