Motley Contempt

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed with modifications a lower court judgment finding violations of an order of protection

Mr. Sixx is a celebrity musician and co-founder of the rock band, Mötley Crüe. Mr. Sixx filed a petition for an order of protection against Ms. Clark in the Knox County Fourth Circuit Court (“trial court”) on July 16, 2021. In his petition, Mr. Sixx averred that Ms. Clark had made numerous social media posts concerning him, his wife, and his young daughter, many of which contained photographs of his family along with disparaging or threatening comments. Several posts also included “hashtags” related to Mr. Sixx, his wife, his daughter, and Mötley Crüe. Mr. Sixx, who resides in another state, asserted that although he had never met Ms. Clark or communicated with her in any way, she had posted that she and Mr. Sixx were “twin flames” and “soulmates” and had stalked him via the internet.

After entry of an order of protection, the trial court found violations

As sanctions, the trial court punished Ms. Clark for 100 counts of criminal contempt, imposing a fine of $50.00 per violation, for a total of $5,000, and sentencing her to three days of incarceration per violation, for a total of 300 days, with 270 days held “in abeyance pending [Ms. Clark’s] compliance with the Orders of this Court.” Furthermore, the court found that the order of protection should be extended for five years and imposed a $2,500 bond for the five-year term. Ms. Clark’s notice of appeal from this order was filed on March 19, 2024. Meanwhile, on February 23, 2024, the trial court entered a separate order of protection spanning a term of five years.

On review

we modify the trial court’s judgment in part, vacating the contempt finding regarding count 7 and subtracting count 43, which was found not to constitute a violation of the order of protection, from the trial court’s total. We further modify the trial court’s judgment to allow Ms. Clark a credit for her pretrial confinement, thereby reducing her sentence by one day. Accordingly, the judgment is modified to reflect a total of 98 counts of contempt. These modifications also require that the judgment reflect total fines of $4,900 and a sentence of 293 days. The trial court’s judgment is affirmed in all other respects. 

(Mike Frisch)