State v. Blume

BURNETT, Judge.

The issue presented is whether a magistrate, who entered a judgment of conviction for a misdemeanor and imposed a sentence containing a fine, should have been disqualified later from finding the defendant in contempt for failure to pay the fine. Upon a petition for writ of review, the district court upheld the magistrate’s refusal to be disqualified. Today we affirm.

This case is a chapter in the long-standing dispute between Bill Blume and the State of Idaho over his operation of a barbershop without a license. The dispute arises from Blume’s assertion that state regulation…