Lawyer Gives Client Candy, Is Arrested

PHOENIX -- Yavapai County deputies arrested a lawyer because he gave his client a piece of candy, authorities said.

Damon Rossi, 29, was taken into custody at his home Thursday after deputies said he gave his client a sweet during a hearing Wednesday, said Yavapai County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn.

Rossi asked two detention officers if he could place the food in his client's mouth because the client was restrained, and the officers told him that passing any contraband to an inmate in any manner was not allowed, D'Evelyn said.

Officers said they reminded Rossi again not to give the inmate anything as the lawyer approached his client with the candy, and Rossi allegedly said, "What are you going to do, arrest me?" as he placed the candy in the inmate's mouth, D'Evelyn said.
The court officers said they didn't want to disrupt the court, so they allowed the proceedings to continue, D'Evelyn said.

"The concern we have is that no contraband should be passed to an inmate," D'Evelyn said. "That's the rule. We don't know what's in it. If we allow attorneys to feed our inmates it would be a security issue -- they get fed three squares a day and we don't feed them in court."

According to D'Evelyn, Rossi is charged with one felony count of conveying contraband to a prisoner. He was booked into county jail and released on his own recognizance by early Thursday evening.