County Attorney Thomas and Crew File "Special Action" in Arpaio Detention Officer Flap

By Paul Rubin Wed., Dec. 9 2009 at 9:29 AM

We've just gotten word that the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has filed a "special action" with the Arizona Court of Appeals in legal protest of Judge Gary Donahoe's recent jailing of county Detention Officer Adam Stoddard.

We haven't yet seen the pleading, filed on behalf of Stoddard and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office by Deputy County Attorney Tom Liddy and local private attorney Michele Iafrate.

(Why yet more taxpayer dollars must be expended on a private lawyer with Liddy on the job is fodder for another time).

As of this morning, D.O. Stoddard allegedly remained somewhere within Sheriff Joe Arpaio's sprawling gulag (we picture a cozy little set-up replete with everything but dancing girls), serving an indefinite sentence on a civil of court contempt charge.

That sentence was imposed by presiding county criminal Judge Donahoe after the well-publicized October 19 on-camera/in-court pilfering by Stoddard of a criminal defendant's file. That's Stoddard to the right in the photo, just after he handed the defendant's private paperwork to the portly sheriff's deputy for copying.

Here is a cool summary of some of the events surrounding the Stoddard situation, with other links to this unprecedented (at least in Maricopa County) situation.

We'll let readers know what's happening on this legal front (they are so many fronts nowadays involving Andy Thomas and Joe Arpaio!) as things transpire.