CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SANTA ANA : Sheriff Wins Appeal of Contempt Ruling

A Superior Court judge Thursday reversed a contempt-of-court conviction against Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, overturning all 17 counts against him and voiding a jail sentence handed down last month. Judge Eileen C. Moore said that Municipal Court Presiding Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr., who found Gates in contempt for illegally releasing 17 prisoners in order to relieve overcrowding in the county jails, erred in his decision. Moore said Gates did not show “the requisite elements of contempt . . . the ability to comply and a willful, intentional disobedience of a court order.” Gates, who was not in court for the ruling, said later that he was glad to have “a thorn in our side removed.” Stanford did not return phone calls Thursday, but his lawyer, Philip Kohn, said the judge was disappointed. Kohn said he and Stanford would meet soon to decide whether to appeal.