Santa Ana : Prisoner’s Wife Denies Taking Drugs Into Jail

The wife of convicted killer Willie Ray Wisely pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of smuggling drugs to another inmate at the Orange County Jail.

Gail Marie Harrington, 25, whose visits to the jail have been cut back since her arrest on Aug. 12, is free on $25,000 bail. An Oct. 26 preliminary hearing date was set in her case.

Harrington may be back in court as a witness in a hearing scheduled today before Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary on the county’s request to reduce the special privileges that Wisely has been granted at County Jail because he is representing himself.

Harrington, who worked for the American Civil Liberties Union as well as for other lawyers, was a legal runner for Wisely. They were married secretly at the jail last Christmas Eve. When jail officials last month accused the two of having sexual contact in a room where inmates meet with attorneys or bondsmen, Harrington denied it. But at the time of her denial, she did not reveal that she and Wisely were married.

Wisely, who served as his own lawyer at his murder trial, was convicted five years ago in the 1981 death of his stepfather. He is being held in County Jail awaiting a hearing on his motion for a new trial.