John Bowens, the Sheriff of Terrell County, appeals from the order of the Terrell County Superior Court finding him in criminal contempt for wilful violation of the Court’s order and sentencing him to five days in jail and a $500 fine. For the following reasons, we affirm the order’s contempt finding and vacate the portion of the order addressing a prior court order requiring Terrell County to pay the Sheriff’s attorney fees and costs. 1. Contrary to Sheriff Bowens’s contention, we find that the evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of criminal contempt for wilful violation of the court order.
Sheriff Bowens was cited for contempt for disobeying a written order of the Terrell County Superior Court entered by Judge Ronnie Joe Lane on the afternoon of February 16, 2010, and delivered the same afternoon to Sheriff Bowens’s office. The order directed Sheriff Bowens to transport to the Terrell County Courthouse, not later than 9:00 a.m. on February 17, 2010, four named criminal defendants imprisoned at the Terrell County jail, for the purpose of hearings in criminal cases before the Court. At the hearing on the contempt citation,1 evidence showed that Judge Lane issued the order to Sheriff Bowens because, at the previous scheduled date for criminal hearings, Judge Lane was unable to complete the Court’s business, and was forced to adjourn early, because Sheriff Bowens failed to timely transport all of the scheduled defendants from the jail to the courthouse. Evidence further showed that Sheriff Bowens operated the county jail and had the responsibility to transport criminal defendants from the jail to the county courthouse for hearings and trials. Sheriff Bowens admitted that he had prior notice of the Court’s order; that he discussed the order with one of his deputies on February 17, 2010, prior to the 9:00 a.m. time specified in the order; and that, contrary to the order, he directed the deputy to transport two rather than four jailed defendants to the courthouse by 9:00 a.m. When the deputy arrived at the courthouse with two of the defendants, Judge Lane asked the deputy if he was aware of the Court’s order. The deputy advised Judge Lane that “the Sheriff and I had discussed it that morning, that due to security reasons, we would just bring two inmates over here, and as soon as those were disposed of, we would bring two more over.” In explanation of his decision not to comply with the court order, Sheriff Bowens testified that, on February 17, 2010, he was working in his patrol car to answer calls, and that he had only two deputies working, one in the courtroom at all times, and one transporting prisoners from the jail to the courthouse. But Sheriff Bowens also testified that he employed ten deputies each with a patrol car, an investigator with a car, fifteen full-time jailors, two part-time jailors, a jail administrator, and two office assistants. Part of Sheriff Bowens’s defense was that Terrell County had not adequately funded his office to allow him to safely carry out his responsibilities. Sheriff Bowens explained that he did not wilfully disobey the court order, but that he was not able to comply with the order “because of a lack of personnel that I had that day.” According to Sheriff Bowens, it would have been unsafe to comply with the court order because it required him to send one deputy with four prisoners. Judge Lane testified that Sheriff Bowens’s failure to comply with the order interfered with the Court’s ability to conduct the scheduled hearings.
