Ford // Photo provided

Ford // Photo provided (December 27, 2012)

8:56 a.m. AKST, December 29, 2012
NILES, Mich. (AP) — A woman who was kept in Berrien County jail for 10 days after cursing in the county clerk's office at the courthouse has been released after a second judge intervened.

LaRue Ford tells TV station WOOD (http://bit.ly/RWqgL7 ) she's "speechless" after winning release Friday from the Berrien County jail in Michigan's southwestern corner. She was charged with contempt after a clerk heard Ford use a profanity -- cussing, not a threat -- while trying to take care of an old traffic ticket on Dec. 4.

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney said Ford "essentially muttered a swear word to herself" on Dec. 4 as she was leaving the clerk's office in Niles, just north of the Indiana state line.

She posted 10 percent of a $5,000 bond, but Judge Dennis Wiley ordered her to stay in jail without bond Dec. 18 because she had no proof of a permanent address.

The American Civil Liberties Union appealed, and another judge, Alfred Butzbaugh, released Ford. She admits cursing but says she said it to herself.

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Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com