Evans v. State

Ted Williams was a famous baseball player who sued Vincent Antonucci, among others. George Evans (defendant) was an attorney representing Antonucci. At a case-management conference (CMC), the trial judge offered to mediate the case if all the parties and their attorneys agreed that they would not use the trial judge’s service as mediator as a basis for disqualification. The parties agreed, and mediation ensued. During the mediation, the trial judge made certain comments that left Antonucci and Evans with the strong feeling that the judge thought highly of Williams and was prejudiced against Antonucci. For instance, the judge said, “there’ll always be people like [Antonucci] around, but let’s face it, there’s only one Ted Williams.” The judge also advised Antonucci to “get real” upon seeing Antonucci’s settlement figure. The case did not settle. After the mediation, Evans conducted research and consulted other attorneys on whether he had grounds for filing a motion for recusal under the circumstances. Antonucci was insistent on filing the motion. Antonucci’s uncontradicted testimony was that he was scared, based on the judge’s comments, that the judge was biased and would not decide the case fairly. Evans felt duty-bound to file a motion for recusal on Antonucci’s behalf. On receipt of the motion, the trial judge on behalf of the state (plaintiff) cited Evans for direct criminal contempt. Following a hearing, the court found Evans guilty based on having lied to the trial judge at the CMC. Evans appealed his conviction.