Mo. Supreme Court Overturns Lawyer’s Contempt Conviction for Claim in Appeal
A lawyer who claimed that a prosecutor and judge may be conspiring to imprison innocent people won’t be facing jail, thanks to a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court.
In an en banc opinion (PDF) issued Tuesday, the court overturned a criminal contempt conviction for lawyer Carl Smith on First Amendment grounds. The Associated Press and KY3.com had stories.
Smith, of Ava., Mo., had been sentenced to 120 days in jail for an assertion made in an appeal. Smith wrote that a judge and prosecutor were participating in grand jury proceedings in a way that was “in the least, an appearance of impropriety and, at most, a conspiracy by these officers of the court to threaten, instill fear and imprison innocent persons to cover-up and chill public awareness of their own apparent misconduct.”
The supreme court said jurors had been improperly instructed that they could find Smith guilty without finding he knew his statements were false or that he had a reckless disregard for whether they were true. Nor was there any evidence showing his comments interfered with the administration of justice, the opinion said.
The court added that its ruling has no bearing on any disciplinary measures that would result from Smith’s conduct.
