Montana Code Annotated 2019

TITLE 45. CRIMES

CHAPTER 7. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Part 3. Obstructing Governmental Operations

Criminal Contempt

45-7-309. Criminal contempt. (1) A person commits the offense of criminal contempt when the person knowingly engages in any of the following conduct:

(a) disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior committed during the sitting of a court in its immediate view and presence and directly tending to interrupt its proceedings or to impair the respect due to its authority;

(b) breach of the peace, noise, or other disturbance directly tending to interrupt a court's proceeding;

(c) purposely disobeying or refusing any lawful process or other mandate of a court;

(d) unlawfully refusing to be sworn as a witness in any court proceeding or, after being sworn, refusing to answer any legal and proper interrogatory;

(e) purposely publishing a false or grossly inaccurate report of a court's proceeding;

(f) purposely failing to obey any mandate, process, or notice relative to juries issued pursuant to Title 3, chapter 15; or

(g) purposely failing to comply with the requirements of the 24/7 sobriety and drug monitoring program provided for in Title 44, chapter 4, part 12, if ordered by a court to participate in the program.

(2) A person convicted of the offense of criminal contempt shall be fined not to exceed $500 or be imprisoned in the county jail for a term not to exceed 6 months, or both.

History: En. 94-7-309 by Sec. 1, Ch. 513, L. 1973; R.C.M. 1947, 94-7-309; amd. Sec. 1690, Ch. 56, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 318, L. 2011; amd. Sec. 20, Ch. 55, L. 2015.