Baby Gabriel Mom Refused to Leave Jail Cell for Court; Sheriff to Enforce Her Appearance on March 17

March 9 2010; Phoenxi, Ariz. The mother of missing Baby Gabriel, Elizabeth Johnson, was due in court at 8:15 this morning to appear before Commissioner Lisa Roberts for an Initial Pre-Trial Conference and then at 9:30am for the Oral Argument. However, Johnson is refusing to be transported from her cell at Estrella Jail, which is nearby the Maricopa County Superior Courthouse, where she is supposed to appear with her lawyer Vanessa Smith. Tammi Peters Smith had the same court date and times as Johnson has. However, she either did not appear or did not have to appear. It is not known if Smith's situation was associated with Johnson's.

Commissioner Roberts had still been expecting to see Johnson in court today and and had planned to make time for Johnson once she arrived. However, this just came in a court spokesperson, Karen Arra- Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Ryan has postponed the Pre-trial Conference Hearing to March 17. He says that Elizabeth Johnson must attend. Judge Ryan called on the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to enforce that Johnson appear at 10am on March 17. Sheriff Joe Arpaio proclaims that he is America's Toughest Sheriff.

However, the transporting of a prisoner to court sometimes has a problem other than an unwilling jailbird. According to the Arizona Republic, in a February 2 news report, 'the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is still failing to meet a state-law mandate to transport county jail inmates to their court hearings'. The Sheriff's Office has failed about 200 times to get a jailbird to his court appearance. The officer responsible for getting inmates to court, Deputy Chief Dave Trombi, has been held in contempt of court. His repeated failure to transport inmates has caused costly court delays. However, the Sheriff's Office claims that they are understaffed.

One of the motions scheduled to be heard today was 'Termination of Counsel'. But without Johnson, the motion could not be heard. If the attorney, Vanessa Smith, wants to withdraw from representing Johnson, then the motion might have been called 'Withdrawal of Counsel'.

Jay J. Armes arrived in town last night. He and his power-team of investigators are following all leads. However, there is one particular lead that Mr. Armes believes will break the case. He fully expects to bring Baby Gabriel Johnson home soon.

Johnson kidnapped Baby Gabriel from Tempe Arizona to San Antonio Texas in December 2009. Eight days later, she told the baby's father, Logan McQueary, via text messages and phone calls, that she had murdered their baby. After her arrest on a charge of Conspiracy to Commit Custodial Interference on December 30, Johnson changed her story. She said she gave away Baby Gabriel to a stranger couple in a park. Evidence has shown that she may have sold Baby Gabriel to an underground adoption agency.

Johnson is in jail on a $1.1 cash-only bond. In addition to the Conspiracy charge, her other charges are: Custodial Interference; Child Abuse; Kidnapping.

Related stories:
America's Toughest Sheriff Keeps Tight Rein on Missing Baby Gabriel Mom;
Handwriting Analysis Reveals Troublemaker Tammi Smith & Troubled Baby Gabriel Mom;
Missing Baby Gabriel PI Jay J. Armes: My Best Secret Agent Plus Rare Facts & Not-So-Rare;

Sources: myfoxphoenix; kpho; azcentral; arizonarepublic;