On Fri, 24 Dec 1993, Jim choate wrote:

As far as I know the contempt of court charges can keep you in jail till you rot.

Unless the judge recinds his order or your lawyer can get a higher court to over-turn the order you are stuck (as far as I understand it).

I recall a case several years ago where a woman (somewhere on the East Coast?) was thrown in jail for contempt. She refused several times to tell the court where her child was in an attempt to keep her ex-husband from gaining custody (I believe he was accused of sexually abusing the child). The woman had been in jail for several months when a higher court ruled that she must be released. I don't have any references to this case, perhaps someone else does. John Schultz jschultz@bigcat.missouri.edu

I recall a case several years ago where a woman (somewhere on the East Coast?) was thrown in jail for contempt. She refused several times to tell the court where her child was in an attempt to keep her ex-husband from gaining custody (I believe he was accused of sexually abusing the child). The woman had been in jail for several months when a higher court ruled that she must be released. I don't have any references to this case, perhaps someone else does.

John Schultz

This was the Elizabeth Morgan case, and she was in jail for a lot longer than several months...more like a year or two. She claimed her ex-husband, a doctor or dentist, had molested her daughter. As John noted, she refused to say where the child was and so remained in jail indefinitely. (I have mixed feelings about this case. Suppose the father had never molested the daughter and this was just a custody ploy. Does the mother's silence mean the daughter is forever inaccessible? That there will never be a trial to resolve the issue?) When she was eventually released, details escape me as to how this happened, she travelled to Australia, where her daughter was being raised by the grandparents. I've heard nothing more of the case. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.