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CLEARWATER, FLA---Tampa attorney Mark A. Adams is headed back to court Monday, Nov. 28 for a hearing on his motion moving to vacate the contempt charges which were brought against him last January by Sixth Judicial Circuit Court judge Crockett Farnell and attorney Timothy Weber of the politically connected Battaglia, Ross, Dicus and Wein law firm of St. Petersburg.
Adams was arrested in early 2004 after Weber, the opposing attorney in a civil suit in which Adams was the former counsel for the plaintiffs, filed an affidavit seeking an order to show cause why Adams shouldn't be held in indirect criminal contempt. Farnell signed the order and issued a warrant for Adams' arrest in January, 2004.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/092305ContemptHearingFLAtt.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/101005JudiciaryProbe.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/100305MarkAdams.html
Monday's hearing is before Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Robert Beach.
Adams asserts that the affidavit of Weber in bringing the contempt charges against him was not properly executed in accordance with Florida law and that the court's jurisdiction to issue an order to show cause was not properly invoked, requiring the order to be vacated.
By law, an order to show cause must be initiated on the judge's own motion which in this case clearly was not done as it was initiated by Weber. Adams also maintains that Weber's affidavit was not sworn under oath. Florida Statutes require that a contempt proceeding must be initiated under oath and the requirement cannot be waived because it's required to invoke the court's jurisdiction.
Issuance of an order to show cause why a defendant should not be held in indirect criminal contempt based on an unsworn document is fundamental error, Adams says citing Florida statutes and case law, and requires that the order and the charges be vacated.
Adams also says that the order concerned acts which do not constitute criminal contempt.
If Beach refuses to vacate the order and Adams contests the charges by taking the matter to jury trial and is convicted, he'll face up to a year in jail. If he elects to be tried in a bench trial and is found guilty, he could face up to six months in jail.
Adams will be appearing for the hearing pro se. Adams said his attorney, Gregory "Skip" Olney, a former assistant state attorney, "bowed to his partner's wishes" and withdrew from the case last week. 11-27-05
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Country Gazette
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