The Region : Sheriff Sues Woman Married to Inmate

Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates has filed suit seeking $200,000 in damages from the wife of convicted murderer Willie Ray Wisely. The target of the suit is Gail Marie Harrington, a 25-year-old law clerk from Newport Beach who married Wisely at the Orange County Jail last Christmas Eve. The marriage remained a secret until recently. Gates reportedly is seeking damages from Harrington because she had been arrested Aug. 12 on suspicion of smuggling narcotics into the jail, officials said. As part of the suit, Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer granted Gates a temporary restraining order preventing Harrington from visiting any inmate in the jail or Santa Ana Courthouse. Harrington had been retained by the American Civil Liberties Union to handle prisoners’ rights cases. She has been helping Wisely fight a 1981 murder conviction since February, 1986. Her inability to visit him in jail, Wisely said, “immeasurably” hurts his efforts to overturn his conviction.