Maricopa County contempt proceedings
I haven't been following this story on the blog, mainly because it is well-covered by other blogs who have been giving blow by blow accounts of the saga. Maricopa County is famous for the antics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which include building a "tent city" prison, female and juvenile chain gangs, a television reality show, forcing inmates to wear pink underwear, bragging that he spends less on feeding inmates than it costs to feed a dog (90 cents vs. $1.10), openly racist policies regarding Hispanics, and quite possibly more lawsuits than any law enforcement official in history.
In this particular installment of "look at me!," one of Joe's deputies took a defense attorney's documents from her briefcase on her table, behind her back during a sentencing hearing, citing "courtroom security" as the justification. After a delay and a hearing on the matter, Judge Gary Donahoe held the deputy in indirect contempt of court (here is the order, courtesy of Simple Justice) and ordered that he hold a press conference to apologize for his actions or be jailed.
Sheriff Joe promptly announced that no such thing would happen - no one called a press conference but him and his deputy had done nothing wrong. Sure enough, on the deadline (yesterday) the deputy had a press conference at which he announced that he would not apologize because he was doing his job - courtroom security which apparently in Maricopa County involves reading and sometimes confiscating defense counsel's files.
Today, Joe announced that his deputy would surrender himself to the jail, but when the deputy later arrived at the jail they did not take him into custody. The world is now watching to see how Judge Donahoe handles the situation and whether Joe is truly king of his monarchy.
Sheriff Joe said that hat he would not allow Stoddard "to be thrown to the wolves" - the irony is that Joe is throwing his deputy to the wolves by refusing to be governed by the rule of law and allowing his deputy to go to jail while Joe enjoys the media spotlight yet again.
Simple Justice, the Agitator, Windypundit, and Gamso have up to date commentary.
