The attorney for Candyce M. Jones, accused of threatening the life of an undercover officer's 10-year-old son, wants to use the officer's personnel file against him.
Jones' attorney, Nicole Kubista, told Ramsey County District Judge Edward Wilson at a motion hearing Monday that St. Paul police officer Tom Arnold has numerous sustained and unsustained complaints against him and that she wants to use that information to impeach his testimony at trial.
Kubista asked the judge to privately review the nonpublic documents in Arnold's personnel file to determine what information the defense will be allowed to have.
Kubista talked about a couple of instances in which Arnold was reprimanded by his superiors, telling the judge: "Those acts go to whether officer Arnold is credible. This is a 'he said/she said' case. It rests on whether the jury believes officer Arnold or Ms. Jones," Kubista said.
Assistant County Attorney Richard Dusterhoft said the state "is opposed to this fishing expedition."
Arnold signed a release for documents pertaining to complaints regarding Jones, and Dusterhoft said he has sent all the information he has received to Kubista.
Public records from the St. Paul Police Department pertaining to Arnold's personnel file were not immediately available.
Jones, 32, of Maplewood is charged with two felony counts of terroristic threats after an incident Dec. 23 at a Walgreen's store in Roseville. According to the complaint, Jones and a woman identified only as "Kianna" approached the officer and his son in the store. The officer previously had helped search the homes of Jones and her family as part of a murder investigation and had helped with courtroom security during the trial of Jones' boyfriend, Tyvarus Lindsey. Lindsey was convicted in October of murder in the 2005 death of Leon Brooks in St. Paul.
