Ex-Caldwell police lieutenant was sentenced to 3 months in prison. Now he’s appealing it

After a tearful and apologetic sentencing hearing, fired Caldwell Police Lt. Joey Hoadley has filed paperwork asking to appeal his three-month prison sentence.

Hoadley is appealing his sentence to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees nine states and two territories, according to a two-page notice of appeal filed by Hoadley’s attorney Charles Peterson. The prosecution during the February sentencing asked Hoadley be sentenced to 41 months, or nearly three-and-a-half years in prison, while Peterson asked for probation.

The notice of appeal was first reported by KTVB.

“My days of being a police officer are behind me,” Hoadley said in court, holding back tears. “That’s OK. I’ve come to grips with that.”

Hoadley, who was fired from the department in May, was convicted by a 12-person jury after a six-day trial of three counts: destruction, alteration or falsification of records; tampering with a witness by harassment; and tampering with documents.

He was acquitted on the first charge of willfully depriving another person of rights under the color of law. Hoadley was initially accused of striking a man in the face during a 2017 arrest, which prompted the initial charge against Hoadley.

The charges and subsequent conviction followed an over yearlong investigation into Hoadley and a now-resigned sergeant within the Caldwell Police Department.

Hoadley previously tried to get a retrial or have the charges against him dropped, but U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl denied that request.

He is expected to turn himself over to a location designated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons before 2 p.m. on April 4 to serve the three-month sentence. He will then be placed on one year of supervised probation after he is released from prison, Skavdahl previously said.

Hoadley is also expected to participate in mental health treatment while he is on probation, according to a seven-page judgment.

Skavdahl, in the judgment, recommended that Hoadley be placed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon as long as it’s “deemed appropriate” with Hoadley’s law enforcement background. Peterson during the early February sentencing asked the judge to consider placing Hoadley at the Oregon prison, which is roughly seven hours away.

“There is no sentence that I can pronounce that is perfect,” Skavdahl previously said in federal court. “This was an offense of arrogance and defiance and stupidity.”