Federal · Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

18 U.S.C. § 3691: Jury trial of criminal contempts

Misdemeanor

What this law says, in plain English

Criminal contempt involving willful disobedience of a federal court order that also constitutes a crime entitles the defendant to a jury trial, except for contempts committed in the court's presence or in cases brought by the United States.

Read the full statutory text

Whenever a contempt charged shall consist in willful disobedience of any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of any district court of the United States by doing or omitting any act or thing in violation thereof, and the act or thing done or omitted also constitutes a criminal offense under any Act of Congress, or under the laws of any state in which it was done or omitted, the accused, upon demand therefor, shall be entitled to trial by a jury, which shall conform as near as may be to the practice in other criminal cases. This section shall not apply to contempts committed in the presence of the court, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, nor to contempts committed in disobedience of any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command entered in any suit or action brought or prosecuted in the name of, or on behalf of, the United States.

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