Arizona detention officer will spend night in jail after all

December 2, 2009 @ 12:39AM

Arizona detention officer will spend night in jail after all

By Carlos Miller -...

In a debacle that has more twists and turns than a John Grishan novel, Maricopa County detention officer Adam Stoddard will spend the night in jail after all.

Even though his attorney advised against it.

“I told him to go home,” Liddy said. “But he said, no, he wanted to stay because that’s what the judge ordered.”

In fact, because of the clerical error that deputy county attorney Tom Liddy blamed on Judge Gary Donahoe, there was no way Stoddard could be officially booked.

No word yet on whether they handed him a set of pink underwear as is customary in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails. Or whether or not he will stay in the Madison Street Jail suite.

The news comes to us again from Heat City, the Phoenix blog that is operated by Nick R. Martin, a former East Valley Tribune reporter.

The Tribune, which has since gone out of business, used to be one of my main competitors when I worked as a cop reporter for the arizona republic a few years ago.

Speaking of which, the republic is still clinging to the story where Stoddard refused to apologize under its “Latest News Headlines” column.

You would hope the largest newspaper in Arizona, which happens to be within walking distance of the jail (a walk I’ve done plenty of times in 100 degree weather), would be more on top of things.

But those of us who know the republic are not surprised.

Comments

Anonymous

2 years ago

Don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but has he been reprimanded yet for dereliction of duty for being so wrapped up in staring at a document that was none of his business that the defendant, who was standing two feet away on the officer’s gun side, could have easily gotten to the officer’s weapon and done who knows what?

Anonymous

2 years ago

A travesty for justice the mainstream media is not on top of? Really?

Anonymous

2 years ago

So, let me get this straight. The detention officer was going to stay at the jail because “it’s what the judge ordered”, but he refused to apologize even though that was “what the judge ordered.” Cute.

Anonymous

2 years ago

I love how the Sheriff got mocked the other day by journalism students, all singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody!

Anonymous

2 years ago

SFL,

The problem with that is that they gave him and excuse to leave. It would have been better if he had had to face more hard questions.

Protests like that just lead to silence. You may get emotional satisfaction, but ultimately that technique simply decreases the discourse. “Feelings all I have is feelings…”

Anonymous

2 years ago

Oh, and for Stoddard, good on him for going to jail. Some integrity amongst the lies, or ignorance if you give him the benefit of the doubt.

Anonymous

2 years ago

That’s true Ariel, it would have been better to confront him and get him to address some of his controversial tactics.

Still, I thought the song choice was inspired.

Anonymous

2 years ago

“Still, I thought the song choice was inspired.”
Can’t disagree with that.

Anonymous

2 years ago