The Mississippi Supreme Court says a lower court judge acted correctly last year when the judge ruled that a lawyer was in criminal contempt of court. File Photo

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court says a lower court judge acted correctly last year when the judge ruled that a lawyer was in criminal contempt of court.

The lawyer, assistant Hinds County Public Defender Christopher Routh, had appealed the contempt sanction by Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill.

The Supreme Court, in a 9-0 ruling Thursday, upheld Weill's actions. Routh began to make a legal argument after Weill denied bail to Routh's client, a mother of a newborn charged with capital murder. Weill ordered Routh not to speak.

Routh was briefly jailed before the Supreme Court ordered him released on bail.

Weill has a history of conflict with the county's public defender office, at one point reassigning 55 cases to private lawyers. The Supreme Court overruled that move.