A South Dakota federal court wants to hold high-ranking members of the U.S. Marshals Service in contempt of court after accusing them of ordering deputies not to share their COVID-19 vaccination status and retaliating against the court by "kidnapping" defendants from a hearing (article available here).
Deputy marshals transport jailed federal defendants to court and stay in the courtroom during their hearings. USMS deputies "could well be the most dangerous people in the courtroom in a given case,"the court wrote in a May 19 order. "I do not know the answer to that as I have no information since deputies, with the encouragement and full support of their supervisors, are refusing to tell me whether they have been vaccinated or not."
The judge ordered a deputy to leave his court on May 10 after she refused to share if she was vaccinated. Deputies then brought defendants back to jail during the lunch break without alerting the judge, defense, or prosecutor.
"Following my sanction of requiring a Deputy U.S. Marshal to leave the courtroom for violating my order, the U.S. Marshals Service and defendants retaliated by 'kidnapping' criminal defendants who had been ordered to appear before me," the judge wrote. "Those actions interfered with the administration of justice and were deliberately designed to do so, without regard" to the defendants' rights and everyone's schedules.
The court ordered the U.S. Marshal for South Dakota and the chief deputy to appear in court on June 14 to explain why they should not be held in contempt. The order also applies to the chief of staff for the national director of the USMS.