Contempt hearing for Davis delayed after Commonwealth Court issues stay
The contempt hearing for Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis is being delayed after the state Commonwealth Court stayed the proceeding to allow time to review an appeal she filed before the appellate court.
The court’s decision came late Friday, just before Davis was set to appear before President Judge John F. DiSalle this morning for the contempt hearing after she attempted to block sheriff’s deputies from transferring juvenile case files from her office last month.
The Commonwealth Court delayed the hearing while reviewing an appeal from Davis filed Nov. 5 dealing with court orders removing various duties from the clerk of courts office. Davis previously waived many of those duties, but has since asked for some of them to be returned to her office.
An initial application for an emergency stay was originally denied by the Commonwealth Court on Friday, according to online court records. But an amended appeal filed later in the day by Mt. Lebanon-based attorney Mark Patrick Flaherty was granted.
“The contempt proceedings before the trial court shall be stayed pending final disposition of Appellant’s appeals,” the Commonwealth Court wrote in its temporary stay. “Further, it appearing that the above appeals present issues with respect to the finality and appealability of the trial court’s orders, the parties shall address such issues in their principal briefs on the merits or other appropriate motion.”
An identical appeal filed to the state Superior Court was rejected Friday because it was the wrong judicial venue. But the Commonwealth Court’s temporary stay appears to still allow for contempt proceedings against Davis to continue once the appeal it settled.
DiSalle initiated the contempt proceeding after Davis refused to follow his court order transferring the juvenile case files from her office to the Juvenile Probation Office. Davis was temporarily handcuffed by sheriff’s deputies during the Nov. 24 incident, but she was released from custody and left the courthouse complaining of back pain.
District Attorney Jason Walsh said Thursday he referred the “whole situation” to the state attorney general’s office Nov. 29. A spokeswoman for the attorney general confirmed Friday that they received the referral, but she declined to say whether the incident is under investigation.
The Observer-Reporter filed a right-to-know request Dec. 2 with the county for all surveillance video inside the courthouse showing the interactions between Davis and the sheriff’s deputies. The county has until Tuesday to respond to the request.
Meanwhile, attorney Sean Logue filed a motion last week requesting sheriff’s Capt. Robert Vaughan be barred from entering the prothonotary’s office after he said video appears to show him swatting away the cellphone of a prothonotary employee who recorded the incident between sheriff’s deputies and Davis. Vaughan is the husband of Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan.