District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller wants Centre County held in contempt of court, but the county’s attorney is having none of it.
In new court documents filed Friday, attorney Mary Lou Maierhofer says the Centre County Court of Common Pleas has no choice but to strike down the motion for contempt.
Bruce Castor, an attorney for Parks Miller, demanded last week that Judge Stewart Kurtz hold the county in contempt. He argued that the county purposefully violated a court order in the lawsuit between Parks Miller and the county government, and asked the court to schedule a hearing to determine if the county should be held in contempt.
Parks Miller is currently suing the county government for releasing some of her cell phone records to defense attorneys who filed Right to Know requests with the county, which she claims violated state law and county policy.
After a hearing in the case in May, Judge Kurtz ordered the county not to respond to any more RTK requests and to forward any requests to the proper office. Centre County is currently appealing that decision to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which is why the county believes Judge Kurtz has no power to hold the county in contempt.
“As a result of the filing of the two appeals in this litigation, a common pleas court no longer has jurisdiction, thus the Plaintiff’s Motion for Contempt and Sanctions must be stricken,” Maierhofer writes in her response.
But Castor says this is just a stalling tactic to stretch the case out. He suspects the county commissioners — who are up for reelection in November — want to delay any decision in the lawsuit until after the election.
“We will push for an immediate hearing,” Castor promises.
By contrast, Maierhofer says Parks Miller and Castor are making “outlandish allegations” to distract from the main issues at stake in the lawsuit. Different parties involved with the lawsuit have raised issues of free speech, governmental transparency, and alleged judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in the courtroom.
Castor asked the court to hold the county in contempt because the county responded to a Right to Know request from David Crowley of the county’s public defender office. He wanted to see records of phone contact between Parks Miller and Common Pleas Judge Bradley Lunsford. The county denied that request, citing Judge Kurtz’s order as the reason why.
In the motion for contempt, Castor says the county never forwarded the request to the DA’s office. By choosing to respond on its own — even if the county denied the request — Castor says the county acted in “flagrant violation” of the judge’s order.
Castor concludes his motion by asking the court to schedule a hearing to decide if the county is in contempt of court. He wants the court to fine the county, force the county to cover attorney’s fees, and possibly charge county officials involved with denying Crowley’s RTK request with criminal charges.
