Lawyer arrested for giving client a piece of candy

[December 20, 2008]  PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) -- A lawyer has been arrested after he reportedly ignored orders not to give his shackled client a piece of candy in court, a Yavapai County sheriff's official said.

 Damon Rossi, 38, was arrested at his home on Thursday, a day after he asked two detention officers if he could feed his client a piece of candy, sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said on Friday. Rossi went ahead and gave the inmate the food despite being warned against it, reportedly asking the officers "what are you going to do, arrest me?"

Detention officers took no action at the time because they didn't want to disrupt court, D'Evelyn said. They turned the matter over the sheriff's criminal division and a decision was made to arrest the lawyer.

"The concern we have is that no contraband should be passed to an inmate," D'Evelyn said. "That's the rule. We don't know what's in it. If we allow attorneys to feed our inmates it would be a security issue - they get fed three squares a day and we don't feed them in court."

Rossi was arrested at his home in Prescott Valley about noon and booked into county jail on a felony count of providing contraband to an inmate. He was released on his own recognizance by early evening on Thursday.

A call to Rossi's office on Friday wasn't immediately returned.

[Associated Press]

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