Judges rule on whether NC juror should have gone to jail for refusing to wear mask
A Harnett County man who refused to wear a mask in 2022 at his local courthouse is in the clear following a decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals to reverse his contempt-of-court conviction.
The ruling focused on whether the defendant, Gregory Hahn, intentionally disobeyed orders and whether the judge’s order requiring him to mask up was correct.
Hahn reported for jury duty in October 2022 at the Harnett County courthouse, where he was asked by a courthouse employee to wear a mask. But he refused and was removed from the jury assembly room, then taken to the courtroom according to the ruling.
There, Judge Charles Gilchrist told Hahn that masking was required in the courtroom and that he would be held in criminal contempt if he didn’t wear a mask. Hahn declined to mask up and was sentenced to 24 hours in jail.
Hahn petitioned the appeals court to review the lower court’s decision. In the ruling Tuesday, Court of Appeals Judge Michael Stading wrote that Hahn did not disrupt court proceedings.
While in the courtroom, “in response to the inquiries posed by the judge to Defendant, he replied ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir.’ Throughout their exchange, Defendant was respectful to the trial court,” says the ruling.
The ruling also says that Hahn was not in contempt for “willful disobedience” of the trial court’s lawful order because North Carolina’s chief justice had revoked an emergency order allowing local courts to determine if face coverings were required.
Rules on masks in courts
In July 2020, earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, the chief justice, then Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, ordered that face coverings were required inside all courthouses.
Citing emergency directives, the senior resident Superior Court judge in the district covering Harnett and Lee counties had mandated masks the month before, according to the appeals court ruling.
However, the July requirement was pulled back in May 2021 by Republican Chief Justice Paul Newby – elected in November 2020 into this role – to allow county courthouses to determine if masks were required. All remaining emergency court directives were pulled back by Newby in June 2021.
The N.C. Supreme Court formerly had a Democratic majority, but this changed in 2023 after the midterm election. The makeup now is 5-2, with Republicans in the majority.
In March 2022, the senior resident Superior Court judge ordered that the presiding judge in each courtroom could decide whether to require masks, according to Tuesday’s ruling. The local emergency order also said masks were “optional in hallways, foyers, restrooms, meeting rooms and similar areas.”
The ruling on masks
Judge April Wood joined Stading’s opinion. Judge Jefferson Griffin concurred with the result but wrote separately that Hahn was “not provided prior notice of the court’s COVID-19 guidelines. There were no signs or publications posted directing him to wear a mask upon arrival at the courthouse.”
“While mindful that a trial court judge’s ability to maintain order in their court room is paramount to the efficient administration of justice ... their discretion is not unfettered,” Griffin wrote.
Wood, Stading and Griffin are all Republicans.
The ruling found no support for the argument that Hahn acted in “willful” contempt, or “deliberately and purposefully in violation of law, and without authority, justification or excuse.”
“A misapplication of the local emergency order served as the impetus of the conflict,” Stading wrote, citing the language in the local courthouse order saying masks were optional in hallways and certain other locations.
“Defendant had not violated the text of the local emergency order when confronted by an employee of the courthouse — not the judge, and he was in the jury assembly room — not the judge’s courtroom,” says the ruling.
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