BOISE, Idaho — Former Caldwell Police officer Joseph Hoadley, sentenced earlier this month for three federal felonies, is appealing the judgment.
Hoadley's attorney, Charles Peterson, filed a Notice of Appeal Thursday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The notice serves as a formality in the process of appealing a final judgement previously given in trial court.
The notice essentially informs the court that the party found guilty intends to have the U.S. District Court case reviewed by a higher court.
Hoadley, 42, was convicted in September 2022 of falsifying a record in a federal investigation, tampering with a witness by harassment, and tampering with documents. He was sentenced on Feb. 6 to three months in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release. The U.S. Attorney's Office had recommended nearly 3 1/2 years in prison, while Peterson argued for probation with no prison time. The sentence the U.S. Attorney's Office sought was at the top end of the guidelines from the federal probation office's presentence investigation report in the case.
Hoadley is scheduled to report to prison on April 4. The judge in the case recommended he be incarcerated in the federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, which is northwest of Salem. There are no federal correctional facilities in Idaho.
The charge of falsifying a record was related to Hoadley's report following the March 30, 2017, incident in which a man identified in charging documents as B.H. claimed Hoadley punched him in the face while taking him into custody. During a weeklong trial in September, Hoadley was found not guilty of depriving B.H. of his civil rights, but guilty of filing a false report about the incident. The witness tampering and document tampering charges were related to actions in 2021 and 2022, during an FBI investigation into allegations of misconduct by Hoadley and at least one other Caldwell Police officer.
While addressing the court at sentencing, Hoadley said he had an opportunity to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of deprivation of rights, however, he chose to fight it -- and ultimately face trial on felony charges -- because the initial charge related to something he believed did not happen.
At sentencing, Judge Scott Skavdahl recommended that Hoadley serve his three-month prison sentence at the Federal Correction Institution in Sheridan, Oregon, which is northwest of Salem. Idaho does not have any federal prison sites. Hoadley is being allowed to self-surrender, and must report by the afternoon of April 4.
Hoadley's employment with the Caldwell Police Department was terminated on May 3, 2022, after a grand jury returned the felony indictment. Under Idaho Administrative Rules, a felony conviction is a mandatory decertification by Idaho Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST) once the agency receives the conviction and sentencing orders, meaning Hoadley can no longer be a law enforcement officer in this state.
Prior to Hoadley's appeal, a spokesperson for POST told KTVB that they had to give him 14 days to appeal his sentencing before moving forward with de-certification. POST says filing of an appeal just prolongs the de-certification process.
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