"Contempt" charges likely to increase

[Timothy C. May]

At 9:26 PM 4/5/96, Bill Frantz wrote:
>At 11:57 AM 4/5/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:
>
>>If the secrets or assets _cannot_ be retrieved--a scenario which is
>>possible, if the protocol is so written (clauses for court action)--then
>>contempt charges are meaningless and would not stand, IMNALO.
>
>The Black Unicorn indicates that if the reason the secrets _cannot_ be
>retrieved is because they are in a jurisdiction which refuses to reveal
>them when the owner is under compulsion, the owner can still be punished
>for contempt (A contractual situation).

Far be it from me to question the legal advice BU/Uni/Dirsec provides, but
I think all contempt charges have a kind of eventual expiration. That is,
after some number of months or years have passed and it becomes apparent
the incarcerated person simply will not or cannot comply, release is
ordered. It has happened in most cases of reporters, and it happened with
Rebecca Morgan (who never did tell the court where her daughter was, though
it later came out that her daughter was probably in Australia with
grandparents).

Jail term for contempt of court has certain resemblances to trial by
ordeal: if after some period of time of ordeal one has not talked, the
ordeal is over.

If the court is shown that the protocol makes it impossible for the person
to retrieve the material, especially that there are no ways to circumvent
the contract, then the court may still jail the person for a while "just to
make sure" that there is no means of circumventing it. If and when it
becomes apparent to even the most skeptical that the material has been
lost, or is unretrievable, then I think the contempt jailing must end. When
nothing is served by furhter jailing, except punishment, then the reason
for the contempt action is ended. Or so it seems to me, from what I've
osmosed about the law.

--Tim May

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