Man charged with contempt for obscene message on check

Daily Press and Argus ^ | 12-15-02 | Jon Zemke

[Dan from Michigan]

Man charged with contempt for obscene message on check

Writing what was really on his mind could end up buying a Howell man more trouble than he bargained for after he wrote obscene comments on a check used to pay a traffic ticket.

Eric Wilmoth, 26, has been charged with contempt of court by 53rd District Court Judge John Pikkarainen after Wilmoth wrote "Bulls- - - F- - - - - - ticket. Suck on it" on the memo line of a check he mailed to the court to pay a traffic fine.

Wilmoth will appear before Pikkarainen in Howell for a show-cause hearing at 10 a.m. on Monday. His attorney, Ron Plunkett of Brighton, said his client can't be held in contempt of court because it violates his First Amendment rights

"This is America. I think you can say that," Plunkett said. "Now it's a different thing when you do it in front of a judge."

Plunkett says Wilmoth hasn't acted disorderly in front of any judge or even been in the presence of one for this case before he was held in contempt. It's unknown how Pikkarainen discovered the check. His secretary said the judge wouldn't comment because the case is pending.

When checks to pay traffic fines are mailed to the Livingston County Courts, like the one Wilmoth sent, they can go through a number of different hands, including the 53rd District Court Administrator and the county clerk's office, according to Diane Livingston, chief deputy clerk for the 53rd District Court.

Any check drawing attention can be sent to the court administrator or the court's chief judge -- Pikkarainen. Whoever noticed Wilmoth's check probably didn't have a hard time seeing its controversial comments.

"He (Wilmoth) highlighted that with a yellow marker," Plunkett said.

Wilmoth apparently highlighted the comments to drive home the point he didn't think he should have been ticketed. According to Plunkett, Wilmoth accidentally backed into someone while trying to turn onto Grand River Avenue in Howell on Sept. 25.

No one was injured and alcohol was not involved in what Plunkett calls a minor accident. He also points out that Wilmoth has a clean driving record. That didn't stop a City of Howell Police Department officer from writing him a ticket for improper backing.

Wilmoth contested the ticket in October in an informal hearing before Livingston County Magistrate Brian Brown. Plunkett said Wilmoth acted calmly with Brown and the officer even though Brown ruled against him. He wrote the controversial check and mailed it on Oct. 18.

Six days later Pikkarainen signed an order to hold Wilmoth in contempt for "Improper use of language," according to court records. Wilmoth received notice of the charge in the mail a few days later.

Soon after he contacted Plunkett, along with other local attorneys, to see what he could do to defend himself. Plunkett, who is working this case for free, said Wilmoth is scared to death the judge will make an example of him and send him to jail.

"He regrets having written it," Plunkett said. "He'll apologize to the court. But at that time he was upset with the court."

Plunkett is not excusing Wilmoth's actions as acceptable for normal everyday interaction, pointing out he gets angry when his teenage son uses similar language.

However, he contends the First Amendment covers the comments because the check isn't a menacing or sexually suggestive (he point outs that the check doesn't elaborate on what "it" means) and it doesn't pose a threat to the public good, like yelling fire in a movie theater.

"Just because a lawyer might not say it or just because it can make us a little squeamish doesn't take it out of the First Amendment protection," Plunkett said.

[Revolting cat!]

1.12  Pecunia non olet. 
   pecunia, -ae.  property;  wealth, money. 
   oleo, -ere.  to emit an odor; to smell, stink. 

(source)

[Atlas Sneezed]

My hero!

[ChemistCat]

I myself have always received excellent treatment from officers of the law, but my best friend and my brother have not been so lucky. My best friend was stopped for going 5 mph over the limit (55 in a 50 zone) at 2 am, and ended locked up with her car impounded. She was in the middle of moving and was so, so tired. We bailed her out. Her fine ended up being exactly the amount of bail we had been told we'd get back when she showed up for trial. They kept every cent they got from us. Getting her car out cost her all of her assets. She's in no position to repay us now, so that's that. We were taxed for her speeding ticket, and don't even get to claim it when we file. She's hardly "dangerous criminal" material and was jailed, we think, because the officer found a letter opener in her car. Sometimes a letter opener is just a letter opener.

My brother was stopped just inside my state's border and locked in the back of the patrol car while the cop tossed his truck. He was accused of being drunk--but the cop backed down when my brother said, "Fine, test it." He questioned the cash my brother was carrying (does $250 sound excessive for interstate travel? from California to the heartland?) and thoroughly ransacked his luggage. The search took almost an hour. Now my brother probably shouldn't have consented to the search, Constitutionally speaking, since the officer never presented reason for having stopped him. But he didn't want to get his head bashed in, so he cooperated. He was on his way out to help me with a family medical emergency, and the time he lost and the fatigue created by anger really didn't help anything.

Obviously my brother or his truck resembled someone they were looking for. Boy was he mad. The cop not only didn't apologize, he made some smart remark about my brother's base permit, "Yeah, sure you were Navy, you probably stole that sticker."

I don't care for profanity, but I'm with those who say that this is not contempt of court. Contempt FOR the court, sure. Or rather, contempt for the system, that can make anyone a criminal at any time...whether a crime has been committed or not. If THAT is illegal, I too am a lawbreaker, I guess.

[Crispy]

About six months ago I wrote "For last night" on all my bills including my property tax bill.

[AK2KX]

In the movie "Three Kings" an Iraqi has an innovative hiding place for a secret map that US soldiers discover. That gives me an idea for the check I have to send in to the hellish 36th District Court in Detroit for $100. Got it after being found responsible (no way in hell would I ever plead guilty) for 50 in a 35 on an 8 - yes EIGHT - lane major artery, light traffic in an abandoned area of Detroit. The officious no-neck Revenue Enhancement Officer D. CLELAND at least had to miss a day of work like I did for his two cases.

Detroit is truly the vilest, most corrupt, filthiest and most filled with truly idiotic people of any city that I have ever lived in or near. I won't get into the bogus parking tickets issues at Wayne State University -- time stamped between 3 and 5 AM on weekend mornings, when I wasn't even there.

Once I finish at Wayne State, this hellhole of a town can rot for all I care. Back to Livingston County for me.

[Revolting cat!]

Since the note was written in the space designed for memoes to self and since the check writers could be speakers of any of the languages spoken on the planet, do you thing the gubmint has multilingual experts analyzing the contents of submitted checks, the way that applications for vanity license plates are analyzed? I mean, somebody could be writing messages INSULTING the Imperial City Clerk, in, I dunno, the Freedonian language?!

[Revolting cat!]

thing=think, dummy!

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Detroit is truly the vilest, most corrupt, filthiest and most filled with truly idiotic people of any city that I have ever lived in or near. I won't get into the bogus parking tickets issues at Wayne State University -- time stamped between 3 and 5 AM on weekend mornings, when I wasn't even there.

My brother went to school there. I have to agree. His brand new GT Mustang was stolen the second day he drove it. My dad went to check on the status of the investigation and saw policemen stripping parts off of cars at the impound lot. Interesting, isn't it?

[Dan from Michigan]

Back to Livingston County for me.

Same here on a permanent basis when my lease in Least Lansing is up.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

If the ticket wasn't put on the windshield, how was it issued?

I believe it wasn't. I believe it is a revenue enhancement scam.

If the fine is increased for non-compliance because she was never informed of the ticket, I'd challenge it.

We will challenge it.

[BenLurkin]

Thank you. I book-marked the source. (My Black's Law Dictionary leaves me guessing too often.)

[Publius6961]

It's unknown how Pikkarainen discovered the check. His secretary said the judge wouldn't comment because the case is pending.

It's perfectly clear to me that since judges don't normally see checks, the one who should be held in comtempt is the mental midget who decided the judge should see it.

[George W. Bush]

I suspect it was the second sentence ("Suck on it") that actually got the court's ire and gave them any grounds to pursue the contempt charge. Had the defendant merely written the first sentence alone, he probably would have gotten away with it.