Matter of Siracusa

This is a rehearing of our decision of May 24,1982 to affirm the appellant’s conviction for contempt of court.1 We hold now as we did then, that suspension of imposition of sentence is a final judgment in a case for purposes of the right to appeal. We hold today that appellant’s noncompliance with a court order giving him 15 minutes to attend to another matter was not contumacious. Accordingly our previous opinion in this case is vacated.

Appellant, a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia, appeared in Superior Court before the Honorable Tim Murphy in courtroom 39 on May 22, 1980, at…