The Thin Blue Whine: The Crybaby Thugs of Maricopa County

To his comrades in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Adam Stoddard is a martyr to principle and an innocent victim of injustice — a heroic figure unjustly consigned to prison by petty, power-hungry figures. His boss, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, went so far as to describe Stoddard as a “political prisoner” during his brief and uncommonly comfortable incarceration.

All of this, predictably enough, is nothing but several acres of stockyard carpeting.

Stoddard, a member of the MCSO’s correctional unit, was videotaped stealing a document from the desk of a defense attorney. As a result he spent several days in the custody of his co-workers after being cited for contempt of court by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe for refusing to apologize for his offense.

It’s important to recognize that Stoddard — unlike many others who have been cited for contempt — actually committed an offense against an individual’s rights.

Stoddard claimed to have seen something on the handwritten documents that constituted a threat to "court security” — some cryptic conjunction of the words “going to” “steal” and “money,” which apparently weren’t part of the same sentence.

The Best of William Norman Grigg