In yet another embarrassing moment for America’s already tarnished judiciary, an Arizona judge was caught — quite literally — with her pants down. Police bodycam footage shows Judge Kristyne Schaaf-Olson of Yavapai County publicly urinating on the steps of her own courthouse in the early morning hours, apparently intoxicated and belligerent.
The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. on October 4 outside the Yavapai County Courthouse. Schaaf-Olson, 42, who served as a pro tempore (temporary) Superior Court judge, has since resigned in disgrace after the shocking footage surfaced.
The video, released by police, looks more like a late-night episode of *Cops* than the behavior of a sitting member of the judiciary. The officer’s bodycam shows the judge squatting beside the courthouse steps, pants down, before attempting to casually pull them up and sit on a nearby bench as if nothing were wrong. The responding officer, clearly appalled, can be heard muttering, “This is disgusting.”
When officers approached and asked for identification, the visibly inebriated judge struggled to even spell her own name. That’s when her husband, Jason Olson — the Parks and Recreation Manager for Chino Valley — arrived on the scene and made things worse.
According to the police report, Olson attempted to interfere with officers and pull his wife away, ignoring repeated commands to back off. The officer explained why they were detaining her: “Because I just saw her puking and urinating, exposing herself to several people.”
Rather than acknowledge the obvious, Jason Olson responded with a straight face, “Nope. That wasn’t her.” Moments later, his defiance escalated, and officers were forced to take him to the ground as he resisted. The scuffle ended with officers shouting, “Get your ass on the ground, dude!” before handcuffing him.
Meanwhile, Judge Olson was cited for public urination — a misdemeanor in Arizona — and even struggled to sign her citation correctly. The officer had to direct her multiple times, saying, “Nope, right here on the screen. On the screen.”
The next week, facing mounting public outrage and ridicule, Judge Olson resigned. Her carefully worded statement avoided directly addressing her behavior. “My resignation comes after careful consideration of current physical, medical, and family circumstances,” she wrote, adding that “considering current events in my life, I believe it would be difficult to honor this commitment.”
That “careful consideration” came only after her humiliating arrest was caught on tape for the world to see.
The incident adds to a growing list of cases that erode public confidence in the courts — a system already plagued by perceptions of elitism, bias, and corruption. Judges are supposed to uphold the law, not defile it — and certainly not the courthouse steps.
While everyday Americans face harsh consequences for minor offenses, far too many in positions of power continue to act as though the rules don’t apply to them. The Olson episode is a reminder that arrogance, entitlement, and moral decay aren’t confined to Hollywood or Washington — they’ve infected the bench as well.
For many in Arizona, this wasn’t just a drunken lapse in judgment. It was symbolic — a literal and figurative stain on the integrity of the judicial system.
