Carle v. Burnett

Steele Hays, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment finding appellant Keith Carle to be in contempt of the Craighead Circuit Court. Carle, an attorney and sole practitioner in Jonesboro, was sentenced to ninety days in jail for a willful refusal to proceed to trial in the case of Helen Cater v. Lee Cater. Carle contends the trial judge erred in three respects: in refusing to recognize substantive error in the order being defied, in sentencing him under its inherent power after trying him under a statutory definition of contempt, and in imposing an excessive punishment. Finding merit only…