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Contempt hearing scheduled for Clerk of Courts Davis

By Mike Jones newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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The contempt of court hearing for Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis has been scheduled for early August after her multiple appeals that delayed the proceeding for months were rejected.

President Judge John DiSalle on Friday scheduled the hearing for 10 a.m. Aug. 4 in which he will consider whether Davis should be held in contempt for allegedly defying his administrative orders in late November transferring juvenile court files out of her office.

The hearing has been scheduled and delayed multiple times since early December after Davis filed appeals to Commonwealth Court and later to the state Supreme Court. Her final appeal was rejected by the state Supreme Court on June 23, allowing DiSalle to schedule the contempt hearing.

Charles Gallo, the attorney who has represented Davis throughout the process, does not expect the contempt hearing to be delayed again since their legal options have been exhausted.

“I’m not aware of any way to prevent it,” Gallo said. “We don’t plan on filing anything. We just plan on appearing Aug. 4.”

The proceeding revolves around the Nov. 24 incident in the Washington County Courthouse in which Davis is accused of blocking sheriff’s deputies from transferring the juvenile case files after DiSalle ordered them to be moved from her custody to the Juvenile Probation Office. Deputies briefly handcuffed Davis and later there was an altercation in the courthouse hallway in which she claimed she was assaulted and sought medical treatment for an apparent back injury.

The Attorney General’s office investigated the incident and notified county officials last month that no charges would be filed against anyone.

After the incident, Davis appealed DiSalle’s orders filed last year stripping various duties from her office, so the contempt hearing has been delayed for the past seven months while the appellate courts reviewed her case.

How the hearing will unfold and what DiSalle ultimately will decide remains a mystery. DiSalle said Tuesday he could not comment on the contempt hearing.

Gallo does not know what will happen at the hearing, but he said Davis is now in compliance with DiSalle’s orders.

“We’ve been in compliance with the order since not long after this went to the appellate court,” Gallo said. “I think she’s in compliance with the order and has been for several months. It’s just a question for her prior actions and if the judge still wants to discipline her.”

In his order scheduling the hearing, DiSalle laid out parameters about when the public can enter the courtroom and how they’re expected to behave during the proceeding. Up to 70 people will be permitted to attend and can enter the courtroom from 9:30 a.m. until 9:50 a.m. No one will be allowed in after that time unless otherwise permitted by sheriff’s deputies.

All cellphones must be turned off while in the courtroom and anyone who disrupts the hearing could be asked to leave. No one is allowed to stand in the hallway near the doorway to Courtroom No. 2 where the proceeding will occur.

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