State v. Brown

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

NAKAMURA, J.

Bemadine L. Brown was charged with criminal contempt of court because she failed to appear in the District Court of the First Circuit for trial on a charge of promoting a detrimental drug. 1 She was convicted of contempt after a bench trial conducted by the judge whose order she was accused of disobeying, and she appeals. Concluding from a review of the record that the conviction cannot be upheld because the State did not prove a wilful disobedience of the court’s mandate and the accuser sat in judgment of the defendant, we reverse the trial court.

I

In May of…