Bradford v. State

In her appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Washington County sentencing her to incarceration for civil contempt for failure to pay child support, Joanie Bradford takes aim at the “delayed sentencing agreement” (“DSA”) executed by her and the Child Support Unit of the Washington County Department of Social Services (the “Department”) at an earlier stage in the proceeding. 1

As we will describe in greater detail, under the terms of the DSA, Ms. Bradford admitted that she was in contempt of court and agreed to serve a sixty day jail sentence to commence at a future date. The agreement…