LEESBURG, Va. — A Loudoun County Circuit Court judge stirred up more controversy Thursday after declining to make a decision on whether to dismiss the contempt of court charges against a woman he accused of being high while testifying against her alleged abuser. Despite attorneys from both sides of the case asking Judge James Fisher to dismiss the contempt charges, he said he wasn't ready to do so.
Early in September, Katie Orndoff came to Fisher's courtroom to testify that her former partner had punched her twice in the face, leaving her bloodied and battered. But after Orndoff nervously testified for about an hour and a half in front of her alleged attacker, Judge Fisher decided she was intoxicated on marijuana, ordered her taken off the stand, sent to jail, and blood tested for drugs.
Prior to her appearance on Thursday, Orndoff's attorneys presented Fisher with a 39-page argument for why he should dismiss the charges. They presented a number of options to Fisher, in hopes he would choose to vacate and dismiss the charges against their client. To their surprise, Fisher said he hadn't read the document.
“The standard for contempt is that you have to engage in behavior that actually obstructs the court, and you have to intend to do that and he indicated there was no intent or he didn't find any intent," Orndoff's attorney said. "If there's no intent then there can't be any contempt,”
Fisher said Orndoff disrupted the day in court the man accused of abusing her was supposed to have, claiming Orndoff disrupted the case proceedings at least 10 times. From what he saw, Fisher said it appeared whatever substance she was on, took full effect in the courtroom.
But her lawyers argue there is no proof she is inebriated.
“No one can point to anything that can prove intoxication," her attorney said. "And the court has no evidence in front of him, that there was enough consumed to his effect speech manner muscular movement to be apparent from observation, which is the definition of intoxication."
Attorneys for the commonwealth believe this move will deter more victims to come forward.
“In the social media, in the conversations within the victim rights communities, it already has," Buta Biberaj, the Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney, said.
Advocates like Lisa Sales were disappointed that the judge didn’t seem prepared for the day.
“We've known this was coming for some time and the judge didn't prepare," Sales said. "He didn't prepare for trial and that puts the victim under more undue stress that she shouldn't have to experience."
Meanwhile, the commonwealth's attorneys are pleading with the community to not let this case stop them from getting out of harm's way.
“Please have faith in the system," Biberaj said. "It is imperfect, but that is not a basis to give up on it, because without people making the complaints, we don't know what's going on without them willing to come to court and pursue a prosecution, and we can't do the prosecution without them coming forward and saying, you know what I'm putting myself out there and I'm willing to take that risk nothing ever changes."
Fisher, however, said he doesn't believe this case, nor his actions will deter victims of abuse from coming forward.
