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Commonwealth v. Kolansky

Order holding attorney defendant in criminal contempt of court and ordering him to pay a fine reversed; record demonstrated that defendant made efforts to notify court that he would not be able to proceed with trial on scheduled date, and record did not demonstrate that defendant deliberately and consciously decided not to prepare for trial; elements of disobedience or neglect were not met beyond a reasonable doubt.

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� 1 Appellant, Jeffrey M. Kolansky, Esq., appeals from the judgment of sentence entered in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia County adjudicating him in contempt of court and directing that he pay a fine in the amount of $1500.00. *fn1 After careful review, we are constrained to reverse.

� 2 The basic facts are as follows. Appellant is a defense attorney practicing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In May of 2001, Appellant represented a man who was charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle and related offenses. The case was scheduled to proceed to trial on May 14, 2001. On May 9, 2001, Appellant sent the trial court a letter via facsimile stating that he would not be able to proceed with the criminal case on May 14, 2001 because he was representing another client in a civil case scheduled for trial in the Court of Common Pleas on the same date. The Commonwealth did not oppose the continuance. The trial court granted Appellant’s continuance and scheduled the case for trial on May 16, 2001.

On May 15, 2001, Appellant filed a written motion to continue. On May 16, 2001, Appellant appeared before the trial court and requested an additional continuance until he could secure two expert witnesses, an accident reconstructionist and a liver specialist. Also, Appellant asserted that he was not prepared to proceed because he had been continuously in trial since January of 2001. He also informed the court that he had not yet received certain FBI investigation reports from the Commonwealth. He further stated that the Commonwealth recently informed him that there was no possibility of a non-trial disposition.

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