A Colorado State representative has been jailed for contempt of court.
Timothy J. Leonard, R-Evergreen, who represents House District 25, was sentenced Friday to 14 days in jail for contempt of court, said Jenny Fulton, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
The Colorado Independent, which first reported the story, said Leonard attempted numerous times to interfere with his ex-wife’s decisions about the education of their four children.
Leonard, 55, was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Fulton said.
Leonard appeared in court Friday as part of a dissolution of marriage hearing. The divorce case was filed in June 2012.
On Sept. 13, a motion for contempt citation was filed against Leonard after he made educational decisions regarding one of his children.
“The mother, his ex-wife, has sole decision making on education” regarding the child, said Sharon Liko, Leonard’s attorney.
Leonard tried to excuse the child from a standardized test, and also tried to limit the student’s use of an iPad at school. He believed he could make “minor” decisions about the child’s education, but he was mistaken, Liko said.
Leonard was sentenced to jail Friday by Jefferson County Magistrate Marianne Tims.
“This must be a very difficult time for Rep. Leonard and his family. I know he cares deeply for his children and my thoughts and prayers are with the Leonard family,” Republican Leader Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, said Friday in a statement.
Leonard was appointed to the district seat in January by a vacancy committee, to fill the position of Jon Keyser of Morrison. Keyser, a first term legislator, left the house seat to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet.
He was then elected to the HD 25 seat in November. Leonard serves on the public health care and human services committee, as well as state, veterans and military affairs.
House Democrats also reacted to Leonard’s arrest.
“It is my duty to protect the integrity of the House of Representatives, and it is troubling when a member does not uphold the law,” said House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder. “It is absurd to imagine Rep. Leonard taking a seat on the House Education Committee, to which he was reappointed just last week by Minority Leader Neville, and making important decisions for Colorado’s students, when a judge has prohibited Rep. Leonard from making educational decisions regarding his own children.”
