6th Circuit tosses contempt order for lawyer arrested for missing court; 'embattled' judge presided. A Cleveland lawyer who was arrested and held in contempt after missing a show-cause hearing will get a new chance to make his case before a different federal judge. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the contempt finding for lawyer Brent English and removed the case on remand from U.S. District Judge John Adams of Akron, Ohio. Adams had ordered the arrest of English after the lawyer didn’t appear for an Oct. 29, 2015, hearing to show cause why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for missing a prior court date on Oct. 21. Federal marshals delivered English to Adams’ courtroom and the judge held a hearing. Adams found English in contempt and fined him $500.
The appeals court said in its Aug. 23 decision that Adams had used the wrong standard to judge what amounted to a criminal contempt case against English. The 6th Circuit said a new judge should hear the case because part of Adams’ contempt finding stemmed from alleged disrespect toward the judge. Adams had found English had an “unrepentant tone” at the show-cause hearing and his testimony was “defiant and combative.”
I have been in front of this judge many times -- as a federal judge and when he was a state court judge. I know Brent English very well. Read the article.
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