Lawyer wins appeal in 2018 contempt case with PBC judge

Attorney John Carter was sentenced to 30 days in jail on contempt charges after a back-and-forth with County
Judge Marni Bryson during a DUI-case hearing.

WEST PALM BEACH — Two years after Palm Beach County-based lawyer John Carter asked a judge to disqualify herself from the contempt case against him, an appeals court ruled in his favor this month, according to court documents.
On July 1, Circuit Judges Cheryl Caracuzzo, Rosemarie Scher and Scott Suskauer ruled that County Judge Marni Bryson erred when she failed to recuse herself
given the history of the case, as well as agreed she wrongfully ordered Carter undergo a mental-health evaluation and refused to set a bond for him.
Because the case originated in county court, the appeal was handled by the circuit court.
Donna Greenspan Solomon, the attorney who represented Carter in his appeal, said by email Monday the judges “rendered a very well-reasoned decision and we are pleased with the result.”
“The Court found the judge improperly failed to recuse herself in view of the level of animosity between her and Mr. Carter, which was sufficient to give Mr. Carter a reasonable fear that he would not receive a fair hearing before her,” Solomon wrote.
She said Bryson wrongfully jailed Carter twice, once after sentencing him on contempt charges — to which the circuit court released him the next day on appeal — and then again for ordering a mental-health evaluation where he was taken into custody.
 
Attorney John Carter was sentenced to 30 days in jail on
contempt charges after a back-and-forth with County
Judge Marni Bryson during a DUI-case hearing.
WEST PALM BEACH — Two years after Palm Beach County-based lawyer John Carter asked a judge to disqualify herself from the contempt case against him, an appeals court ruled in his favor this month, according to court documents.
On July 1, Circuit Judges Cheryl Caracuzzo, Rosemarie Scher and Scott Suskauer ruled that County Judge Marni Bryson erred when she failed to recuse herself given the history of the case, as well as agreed she wrongfully ordered Carter undergo a mental-health evaluation and refused to set a bond for him.
Because the case originated in county court, the appeal was handled by the circuit court.
Donna Greenspan Solomon, the attorney who represented Carter in his appeal, said by email Monday the judges “rendered a very well-reasoned decision and we are pleased with the result.”
“The Court found the judge improperly failed to recuse herself in view of the level of animosity between her and Mr. Carter, which was sufficient to give Mr. Carter a reasonable fear that he would not receive a fair hearing before her,” Solomon wrote.
She said Bryson wrongfully jailed Carter twice, once after sentencing him on contempt charges — to which the circuit court released him the next day on appeal — and then again for ordering a mental-health evaluation where he was taken into custody.
stated her basis for the recusal was that she ‘can’t take (Carter) seriously,’ ” they wrote.
Solomon said Carter, who has a hearing July 17, will be asking the new judge assigned to the case, County Judge Robert Panse, to dismiss the charges against him.