State v. Rose

Patricia Rose appeals from an order which found her in contempt for failing to pay anything toward a previously ordered $55 per week child support order. The trial court also ruled that the three-month jail sentence attendant to the contempt would be stayed if Rose continued to pay the previously ordered amount. In addition, the court imposed a $500 purge condition which Rose does not challenge on appeal.

We affirm the contempt finding. We also conclude that, to some degree, the "stay" is of no legal effect. Under the law of contempt, a purge condition, not a stay, is what keeps a contemnor…