Contempt of Court - Fine by Judge

I believe the judge is in charge in his courtroom, but I'm sure the legal experts can cite chapter and verse.

Speaking generally only:

There are two types of contempt: civil (remedial) and criminal (punitive).

In a civil context, the judge is supposed to give the individual an opportunity to purge himself of the alleged contempt. In this respect, if the individual avails himself of that opportunity, the contempt is "remedied." If not, the individual can be subjected to jail time. However, the major difference between civil and criminal contempt is that in civil contempt, the individual always holds the key to the jail cell in his own pocket.

In other contexts, when the alleged contemnor has no opportunity to purge himself from the contempt, then the sanction is not remedial, but punitive. Therefore, the alleged contemnor is subject to criminal contempt charges and ALL constitutional protections must be provided to the accused the same as any other criminal defendant.

Without knowing all the facts in the scenario presented, it is my opinion that a judge's summary imposition of a punitive fine for alleged contempt without formal charges and without allowing the accused to be tried before an impartial jury would be unconstitutional. Generally, a charge of contempt without the court first reprimanding the contemptuous party and putting him on notice that future disrespectful conduct will result in a contempt charge cannot survive a due process challenge.