Lee v. State

ALPERT, Judge.

We hold that a defendant in a civil contempt proceeding 1 has no right to a jury trial and cannot be sentenced to incarceration unless he has been afforded the right to have counsel present closing argument.

On September 7, 1979, a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County found Kenneth Edward Lee, appellant, guilty of the criminal non-support of his children in violation of Md.Ann.Code, art. 27, § 88(b) (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol.). He was sentenced to three years to the Division of Corrections. This sentence was immediately suspended in favor of three years of supervised…