Late on a Friday afternoon in 1989, Judge James E. Findley (now deceased), one of the three superior-court judges of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, which includes the superior court of Liberty County, was conducting a hearing for parties involved in a dispute over child support and alimony. The plaintiff, the former wife of a retired soldier, alleged that her ex-husband, the defendant, owed her substantial unpaid amounts for both forms of postdivorce support.After finding from the evidence that the defendant indeed owed the arrearages, Judge Findley leaned over from his dais and implored the man to voluntarily pay his former wife what was owed. Judge Findley warned the defendant that his refusal to comply with the order would leave the court no alternative but to find the defendant in willful contempt of court, which could be punished by incarceration until such amounts were paid.The defendant said taciturnly that he was not paying his ex-wife anything.