Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Former Congressman Tommy Robinson does not have to spend 60 days in jail or pay a $5,000 fine in a bankruptcy case, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled Tuesday.
The three-judge federal panel upheld a district court judge’s decision to deny Robinson and wife Carolyn’s request to be removed from bankruptcy court supervision. An order that they pay attorneys’ fees and court costs also was upheld.
Robinson and his wife were forced into involuntary bankruptcy in March 2005 by creditors Boyd Rothwell and Bill Thompson, former partners in a Monroe hunting lodge.
Last year, a federal bankruptcy judge recommended that Tommy Robinson be found guilty of criminal contempt and serve 60 days in jail because of his continued interference with his and his wife’s bankruptcy cases. A restraining order had previously been issued against him for interfering with the proceedings.
A district judge followed the recommendations and Robinson appealed the decision.
The appeals panel Tuesday vacated the jail sentence and fine, saying the order was neither sufficiently specific to be enforceable nor clear and unambiguous.