{
  "id": 2739357,
  "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Joseph Panczko, Plaintiff in Error",
  "name_abbreviation": "People v. Panczko",
  "decision_date": "1960-09-29",
  "docket_number": "No. 35652",
  "first_page": "237",
  "last_page": "240",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "20 Ill. 2d 237"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill.",
    "id": 8772,
    "name": "Illinois Supreme Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 304,
    "char_count": 4780,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.783,
    "pagerank": {
      "raw": 1.2848705687802988e-07,
      "percentile": 0.6184291053262179
    },
    "sha256": "66e59021f48fec0f2304209dbb1a582b6f4104b0ed29a195c88227759388a70a",
    "simhash": "1:ce0aaca7ed7870d1",
    "word_count": 807
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:35:17.161655+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Joseph Panczko, Plaintiff in Error."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Solfisburg\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nThis case comes before us on writ of error from a decision of the criminal court of Cook County holding one Joseph Panczko in contempt of court and sentencing him to one year in the county jail.\nDuring the course of a trial for burglary on April 24, 1959, when the judge was in chambers conferring with counsel and the jury was in the jury box, the defendant, Joseph Panczko, made certain remarks to a police officer who was sitting near him. Upon the judge returning to the bench, the assistant State\u2019s Attorney in charge of the prosecution, learning from someone in the court room that the defendant had uttered words, approached the judge and stated that he had a motion to make. The trial judge thereupon suspended the burglary trial and proceeded to hear testimony and argument on the oral motion which was apparently to hold the defendant in direct contempt of court. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court ruled:\n\u201cNow if Mr. Stamos\u2019 [the assistant State\u2019s Attorney] motion was, and comments were in the form of a motion for the court presumably to hold the defendant in contempt, that too is denied.\u201d\nApproximately three months later the State\u2019s Attorney filed a petition for a rule to show cause why Panczko should not be held in contempt, setting forth the alleged incident of April 24 as grounds for the petition. A rule was entered, the defendant appeared, and a hearing was conducted on August 3, 1959, at the conclusion of which the same judge who had considered the matter on April 24, found the defendant guilty of contempt and sentenced him to serve one year in the county jail.\nAt the hearing on April 24, 1959, no formal citation was issued and return made, but jury trial was halted and the trial judge heard the sworn testimony of witnesses bearing on the alleged contemptuous behavior.\nThe witnesses on April 24 were Joseph Weber and John Stamos, assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, officer Corbett, a policeman apparently assigned to guard Panczko, officer Agin, and Donald Pribyl, a member of the Chicago Crime Commission, who was a spectator. Assistant State\u2019s Attorney Weber testified at the April 24 hearing: \u201cI didn\u2019t hear exactly what the defendant said.\u201d Officer Corbett testified that Pancko \u201cmumbled something to me across the table about a screwdriver. I couldn\u2019t make it out. He was mumbling something about a frame on the screwdriver. It wasn\u2019t audible.\u201d Officer Agin, who was on the witness stand at the time, did not hear defendant say anything to anybody. Pribyl testified: \u201cI heard something about a screwdriver. That is all I could hear because I was behind the defendant, but the jury was in the box.\u201d\nIn addition to the testimony at the prior hearing, Sophie Shaw, a petit juror in the burglary trial testified at the August 3 hearing that she heard the words: \u201cThey are trying to frame me.\u201d She further testified that she did not hear anything the defendant said about a screwdriver. Robert V. Hangsterfer, the court reporter in the burglary trial, testified that: \u201cI heard the word frame and the word screwdriver.\u201d The defendant Panczko, who did not take the stand on April 24, testified on August 3 that he spoke to officer Corbett, stating: \u201cI said to him \u2018After this trial is over I want to frame that screwdriver.\u2019 He said \u2018What are you mumbling about? I can\u2019t understand what you are saying.\u2019 \u201d\nOn August 3, 1959, Panczko also filed a motion to quash and a plea in bar of prosecution with a motion to discharge the defendant, all of which were denied. On this appeal respondent Panczko argues that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was placed in double jeopardy, and the sentence imposed was an abuse of discretion.\nWe at once turn our attention to the respondent\u2019s contention that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Of the eight witnesses testifying, only Sophie Shaw attributed any statement to the respondent that could possibly be considered contemptuous. In view of the testimony of the other seven witnesses hereinbefore recited, it is clear that the respondent was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We must accordingly reverse the judgment of the trial court.\nJudgment reversed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Solfisburg"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "George R. Bieber, Jason E. Bellows, and Sherman C. Magidson, all of Chicago, for plaintiff in error.",
      "Grenville Beardsley, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Benjamin S. Adamowsici, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, ( Fred G. Leach, Assistant Attorney General, and Francis X. Riley, and Marvin E. Aspen, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "(No. 35652.\nThe People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Joseph Panczko, Plaintiff in Error.\nOpinion filed September 29, 1960.\nRehearing denied Nov. 30, 1960.\nGeorge R. Bieber, Jason E. Bellows, and Sherman C. Magidson, all of Chicago, for plaintiff in error.\nGrenville Beardsley, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Benjamin S. Adamowsici, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, ( Fred G. Leach, Assistant Attorney General, and Francis X. Riley, and Marvin E. Aspen, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People."
  },
  "file_name": "0237-01",
  "first_page_order": 237,
  "last_page_order": 240
}