PORTLAND — Maine’s highest court on Tuesday upheld a judgment against the owner of a compost business in Lyman who was ordered to spend 50 days in jail for contempt of court.

Robert St. Onge, the owner of Winterwood Farm, was found in contempt in York County Superior Court in August and sentenced to six months in jail, with all but 50 days suspended. His business had a long-running dispute with the state Department of Environmental Protection over the pollution of a stream and continued to operate despite orders to stop from the DEP and the courts.

In an appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, St. Onge argued that the Superior Court lacked the authority to hold contempt proceedings because the alleged contempt stemmed from a civil court order.

St. Onge also maintained that the court created a new Class D crime of criminal contempt “out of thin air.” That argument was the only one made by St. Onge that the justices deemed worthy of more than brief discussion.

In the opinion, Justice Warren Silver wrote that the Superior Court had the discretion to impose sanctions, and that a defendant has the right to a jury trial when more than 30 days of imprisonment are at stake. St. Onge waived his right to a jury trial, but argued in his appeal that he did not do so knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily.

Silver acknowledged that contempt with punitive sanctions is not defined as a Class D crime in court rules or state law. While the classification of the offense as “Class D” on St. Onge’s paperwork was a mistake, it was a harmless one, he wrote.

The justices ruled that the judgment against St. Onge should be modified by striking out “Class D.” That was the only change made. The six justices involved in the case were unanimous in their decision.

“We’re profoundly disappointed to be told we’re right but it doesn’t matter,” said J.P. DeGrinney, St. Onge’s lawyer. “The court indicated that the classification for the charge was wrong, which goes to the basis of the very charge itself. If the foundation of the charge isn’t correct, how is it the defendant understood that charge fully at the time the proceeding took place?”

DeGrinney said the misclassification relates to other arguments in St. Onge’s appeal, including whether he fully understood that he was waiving his right to a jury trial.

St. Onge has had a stay of his sentence during the appeal. That stay may continue, as DeGrinney said his client will consider an appeal to Superior Court of potential errors by the trial judge.

The case against Winterwood Farm stems from heavy rain in October 2005 that washed nitrogen and other nutrients from a composting area into Lords Brook, a tributary of the Kennebunk River. Residents downstream complained of foul odors and a sticky white fungus on the stream bed.

The DEP traced the problem to the farm’s composting of food scraps, manure and shells from lobster, crab and shrimp.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at:

akim@pressherald.com