Adam Stoddard
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled this morning that Maricopa County detention officer Adam Stoddard, who has been in jail for nearly 10 days for contempt of court, should be freed.
In the ruling, the three-judge panel granted Stoddard’s freedom but said it has not yet decided on the original order that put him there. That means Stoddard could be back in jail if the court decides to uphold the decision by the lower-court judge.
Stoddard went to jail on Dec. 1 after being found in contempt for taking a confidential document from the files of defense attorney Joanne Cuccia while her back was turned in court. The whole incident was caught on courtroom security video, which eventually made its way to YouTube and news outlets like CNN.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe told Stoddard he could avoid going to jail or get out at any time if he held a news conference to publicly apologize to Cuccia. However, Stoddard defied the judge’s request and instead surrendered to the custody of his own agency, the sheriff’s office, which placed him in an undisclosed location during his incarceration.
Today’s ruling means Stoddard will not spend the holidays in jail. The court will not decide whether to send him back until at least Jan. 5.
Stoddard’s attorney declined to comment on today’s ruling, but an attorney for Cuccia was obviously frustrated with it.
“I’m going to go see a psychiatrist to figure out why I agreed to do this for free,” said veteran Phoenix attorney Craig Mehrens, who originally asked for Stoddard to be held in contempt.
Mehrens said he was also in a daze over Wednesday’s news that Donahoe, the judge who originally threw Stoddard in jail, had been brought up on criminal charges by prosecutors aligned with sheriff’s office.
“They’re making a circus, they’re making a mockery out of this whole judicial system,” Mehrens said. “And I actually care about what I do.”
Mehrens and other attorneys in the case are required to file their responses with the Court of Appeals by Dec. 18.