COURTLY LEADER: Central Municipal Court Judge Richard...

COURTLY LEADER: Central Municipal Court Judge Richard W. Stanford has been grabbing headlines by threatening Sheriff Brad Gates with contempt of court for releasing inmates early to ease jail overcrowding. . . . But does he have the support of his fellow judges? A clue: They unanimously reelected him presiding judge of the Central Municipal Court, effective Jan. 1. . . . “I have not done any of my actions without consulting” the other judges, Stanford says. “It’s a collective decision of the court as far as I’m concerned.”