Phillips v. Iowa District Court for Johnson County

WOLLE, Justice.

We granted certiorari to determine whether the district court erred in finding plaintiff in contempt and punishing her for violating the visitation provisions of a dissolution decree. Plaintiff contends (1) that a purpose of this contempt proceeding was to punish her for violating the decree, therefore contempt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to satisfy due process, and (2) that the contempt order violated Iowa Code section 598.23 (1985) because it imposed as punishments both a fourteen day jail sentence and modification of the dissolution decree. We find merit in both…