In the Matter of the Contempt of Stanley I. Greenberg, United States of America v. Richard W. Miller, Appeal of Stanley I. Greenberg

Stanley I. Greenberg was counsel for the defendant in a criminal trial in the district court. The district judge summarily convicted Greenberg of criminal contempt and fined him $500 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 401 . Two issues are presented on appeal: first, whether the district judge certified that he “saw or heard” the alleged contemptuous conduct as required by Fed.R.Crim.P. 42(a); second, whether Greenberg’s courtroom conduct constituted sufficient grounds for a summary criminal contempt conviction.

I.

The district court convicted Stanley I. Greenberg of criminal contempt for his courtroom behavior in defending former FBI agent Richard W. Miller, who was convicted on charges of espionage. The verbal exchange for which the district judge held Greenberg in contempt occurred during the government’s rebuttal to the defendant’s closing argument. The exchange appears in the transcript of June 13, 1986 as follows:

After a recess, the district judge stated the following for the record:

On July 8, 1986, the district judge filed an order of contempt memorializing the summary proceeding in which Greenberg was convicted of contempt. The order stated that on June 13, 1986, during the…