Franklin County sheriff’s office commanders and deputies want their boss to stop telling them to violate court orders. Sheriff Jim Raymond responded by calling it a “mutiny.”
The unions that represent the Franklin County sheriff’s command staff and deputies filed Monday for a restraining order that would keep them out of the middle of his fight with the commissioners over control of the weapons in the jail.
The county commissioners had unanimously approved resolutions taking responsibility for the control of the jail and courthouse security during a meeting last week after a state audit. In response, the sheriff promised to take control of the guns and other weapons from the jail because he believes he is responsible for them.
Raymond has ordered deputies and commanders to collect the guns and Tasers from the jail, the unions’ attorney Dan Thenell wrote in his motion.
Those weapons are part of the property that Benton County District Court Judge Jennifer Azure ordered to stay put until a May 8 court hearing.
Raymond has argued that the court order is not valid. He said he had personally gone into the jail and collected the guns on Monday because they were being kept in a closet.
Thenell and his clients believe Azure’s temporary restraining order is valid.
He said the sheriff’s orders have left deputies and administrators in the uncomfortable position of either having to follow their boss’ orders or follow the law.
“The application that we have filed does not have anything to do with who is the best entity to run the jail,” Thenell told the Tri-City Herald. “It says, ‘We’re going to follow a valid court order until another court overturns it, because the rule of law should mean something.”
It’s not clear when the unions’ motion will be heard, but Thenell said both state law and sheriff’s office policy say that police officers should not follow commands that violate court orders.
“There is nothing on the face of the restraining order that makes me believe that it’s invalid, and unless and until the Superior Court or a higher court invalidates that order, the members of the command guild and the sheriff’s guild are not going violate that order,” Thenell said.
Fight over the jail
The application for a new restraining order is the latest turn in a fight between the sheriff and the county commissioners.
The Franklin County prosecutor’s office filed a motion to stop Raymond from taking the guns from corrections officers. The guns are used by corrections officers taking inmates to court and hospital or when traveling to other places. They are not carried inside the jail.
Commander Keilen Harmon wrote in an affidavit as part of the motion that the guns are also needed in case there is a riot inside the jail.
Azure issued a temporary order preventing Raymond or other deputies from removing guns, Tasers, pepper spray and riot equipment from the jail.
But on Friday, Raymond ordered two sheriff’s office staff members including a member of the command union to retrieve guns and Tasers from the jail, according to Thenell’s motion.
Thenell included in his motion a set of text messages from Raymond saying that he was directly ordering two unnamed employees to get the weapons. An affidavit included in the filings indicates that one of them was a patrol sergeant.
When they didn’t respond to his text, Raymond sent a follow-up message demanding a complete case report “concerning today’s failure to receive the weapons.”
Again on Monday, Raymond ordered employees to get the guns and ordered employees to block county commissioners and jail commanders from entering the jail.
Thenell responded to Raymond in an email telling the sheriff that his commands violate a valid court order.
Raymond replied by vowing to fight the county in court for control of the jail.
“This morning we seemed to have experienced a mutiny while attempting to recover the firearms that are owned, registered and controlled by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office from a jail facility that is not authorized to store or carry firearms. All because a temporary judge was fooled into signing a restraint order which I was not even made privy to,” Raymond wrote in an email to Thenell on Monday.
Thenell said it’s apparent that the sheriff doesn’t have any intention of abiding by the order.
“There will be immediate and irreparable injury, loss and damage to the plaintiffs if the sheriff is not ordered to cease from making orders that are not in accordance with court orders,” Thenell wrote in his motion.
© 2025 Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.). Visit www.tri-cityherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.