The Arizona Republic's Robert Robb on What Arpaio Cost the Taxpayers

Yesterday, I brought you the story of Andrew Thomas' shameless shakedown of the Maricopa taxpayers for funds to pay for his defense against ethics charges; today I bring you a link to the Arizona Republic's outraged columnist Robert Robb on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's role in what Robb terms, the Maricopa County "cesspool."  Prompting Robb's May 11th column was the release of the independent investigation conducted by the Pinal County Sheriff's office. 

AZCentral.com's links to the Pinal County investigation.  Mind-blowing.  But hey, it's worth it to have America's Toughest Sheriff working for you, right?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Other Maricopa County Law Enforcement Liars Begin to Fall

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, America's Toughest Sheriff has been repeatedly outed on Bad Lawyer as a extra-legal law enforcement thug.  He countenanced constitutional abuses by his deputies and he created a reign of terror that has cost and will cost Maricopa County and the State of Arizona millions.  And yet, like the birthers--Arpaio is a darling of the right and Republicans throughout the United States--often flown into to raise money for the Republicans.

Corruption was so rife in Maricopa County that another Arizona County's (Pinal) Sheriff was detailed with conducting an investigations.  When Arpaio received the investigation which confirmed wholesale corruption by his chief deputies he stonewalled media requests to release the report.  The report has now been released and Deputies involved in corrupt and illegal activities are beginning to lose their jobs, including chief deputy David Hendershott.  

Obviously, the question that remains is how long will Arpaio himself be free from federal indictment?  Stay tuned.  At the link, excerpts from the Pinal County Sheriff's investigation.

Sheriff Joe's Documented Spending Practices--Like a Sailor on Shore Leave....

Well, big surprise, Bad Lawyer's favorite Stalinist-Sheriff turns out to have been spending the taxpayer's dollar like a sailor on shore leave; nearly $50 million dollars allocated for jail operations were spent by the Sheriff at his whim--you know things like the grandstanding, xenophobic, demagoguery of immigration sweeps, travel, and paying the salaries of deputies assigned to investigate other office holders.  Here's Yvonne Wingett's AZCentral.com update.  When will Maricopans have enough of this con artist and thief? 

The real outrage is the money, Arapio has spent on Big Law firms to advance legal arguments and prosecute other elected officials--all which have proved to be frivolous and ineffective. 

Maricopans, you get what you pay for.

Munnell's Memo to Arpaio

At the link you can read the original +60 page memo of Deputy Chief Frank Munnell to Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  I recently referred to the existence of this document. The memo provides an insider account of the recent reign of terror in Maricopa County.  It is one of the most extraordinary documents of its type that you will ever see.  I feel lucky to be able to link to it.

Andrew Thomas Concedes

Maricopa County's own, Andrew Thomas, (Sheriff Joe Arpaio's former legal gunslinger) has conceded the primary contest to his Republican primary opponent, Tom Horne.  Thomas who may well lose his law license labeled Mr. Horne a scam artist based on a history of financial shenanigans and a bankruptcy not disclosed on required state filings.  We'll see how this all plays out; suffice it to say the Arizona Supreme Court appears to be losing its patience for the games being played by Thomas et al.  

Corydon, Indiana Republicans Host "America's Toughest Sheriff"

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports on Joe Arapio's fundraising visit to Harrison County, Indiana.  In the picture he is shown searching for his heart as he and the local Republican chair say the Pledge of Allegiance.  This amusing account of the Arpaio is from reporter Harold Adams:

'The Arizona sheriff who bills himself as 'America’s Toughest Sheriff' said he was 'a little disappointed' in his visit Saturday night to Harrison County to raise money for local Republican political candidates. 'Wherever I go I have demonstrators. I haven’t had any demonstrators [BL--Yeah, I bet, this is because this area of Indiana was dominated by the KKK in the 1920s],' Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said while meeting with reporters at the First State Office Building in Corydon.

Arpaio, who often speaks around the country, made sure reporters understood how to pronounce his name: 'It’s Ar-pie-o, none of this Ar-pay-o.'

Arpaio began his Corydon visit with a $500-a-person reception at the office of attorney Maryland Austin, which was closed to the media. That was followed by a reception at the office building, where about 250 people paid $120 each to meet and have their picture taken with Arpaio and attend a dinner at St. Joseph Catholic Church, where he was the featured speaker.
Arpaio has received a lot of national attention recently for his hard stance on immigration. He had his deputies check the immigration status of people they think might be illegal aliens long before Arizona passed a controversial state law requiring such checks. The law was slated to take effect last month but a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction stopping its most controversial features from being enforced.

The 78-year-old Arpaio, who wore a gold-colored Glock pistol tie tack with his dark suit, proclaimed with a smile that he was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for possible racial profiling for his enforcement of immigration laws.

He encountered only admiration at the event.

New Albany resident Sarah Spivey was typical of those who approached Arpaio.

'You are my hero. May I shake your hand?'  Spivey said as she made her way toward the sheriff. 'My sons and I follow your life and history as much as we can.'  Spivey’s friend, Virginia McGuirk, told Arpaio, 'I wish we had a bunch of sheriffs around here like you.'

The present sheriff of Harrison County, Democrat Mike Deatrick, is under indictment for sexual battery and criminal deviate conduct against two sheriff’s department dispatchers. Deatrick has pleaded not guilty. Rod Seelye, the Republican nominee in the November race to replace Deatrick, is one of the candidates who will benefit from the money raised by Arpaio’s appearance.

'I think some of the models that he’s set in Arizona will play well here,'   Seelye said.
Arpaio has long been controversial for his hard attitude toward jail inmates. Among other things, he’s known for housing some jail inmates in tents, starting a female chain gang and making all inmates wear pink underwear.  Seelye declined to endorse any specific policies of the Arizona sheriff, saying only, 'I think he runs a tight ship. … I’m talking about running a very professional law enforcement agency.'"
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These Hoosiers can get themselves a Sheriff like Joe Arpaio--move to Phoenix.  Apparently dumb white folks are needed down there, in force, as an antidote to everyone else with an IQ slightly above simian.

Arizona Election Results

AZCentral.com is reporting this morning that the political career of Andrew Thomas, former Maricopa County Attorney and water boy for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, may have come to an end.  As you will recall from the stories on Bad Lawyer, Thomas quit his job mid-term, a-la, Sarah Palin to run for higher office, Attorney General.  Thomas appears to have narrowly lost in his bid for the Republican nomination.  Amazingly, Thomas lost to a local lawyer who ran an investment scheme that went belly-up in college resulting in a bankruptcy that the lawyer subsequently lied about in various filings.  How bad a candidate do you yourself have to be to lose a race for attorney general to a "con artist" which is what Thomas called his opponent, Tom Horne?   If the election results hold, Horne will face democratic challenger Felecia Rotellini in the general election. 

Tellingly, returns from Maricopa County played a significant role in the projected electoral defeat of Thomas.

In a separate story, AZCentral.com is reporting that Sheriff Joe Arpaio who utterly hates interim County Attorney Rick Romley may have played a role in defeating Romley's bid to win election to the the County attorney position by illegally running ads and sending mailers on behalf of Romley's opponent.  The local electoral commission found Arpaio's interference in this election violated election laws as it relates to the mailers Arpaio paid for and distributed.  Romley appears to have lost the race by a wide margin although the defeat may have been attributable to complex and underhanded manipulation of candidacies and of course Arpaio's seemingly bottomless deep pocket. 

We will see how this turns out.  As with all things Arpaio, more shall be revealed.

Arpaio and Thomas Machinations Documented by Release of Grand Jury Transcripts and Other Original Documents

The Arizona Republic provides something you almost never see, the grand jury transcripts (links to the pdf of the original documents are at the link) from Sheriff Joe Arpaio and (former Maricopa County Attorney) Andrew Thosmas' tragi-comic attempt to have their political enemies indicted.  If you check the Bad Lawyer index you will see that Sheriff Joe and and his Boy Andy's machinations have been a special obsession of mine and the Bad Laywer blawg.

Anyone who cares about the law should care about this story--and with this report you see the smoking guns which were released by the interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley.  Romley formerly served in the position and came in after the disastrous tenure of Thomas who now thinks Arizonans should elect him Attorney General.  You can watch Romley's press conference at the link.

The story represents for me the sort of wholesale abuse of local power.  This sort of thing  happens in many places around the country but usually beneath the surface.  But not in Maricopa County where Sheriff Joe and Boy Andy operated a full reign of terror.  They trammeled the rights of criminal defendants, immigrants, the poor, their political opponents, lawyers, Judges, and other elected officials. The Maricopa grand jury transcripts which are linked to the story are amazing documents.  The final transcript in particular conclude with grand jurors "refusing" to act any further. 

These original documents provide a rarely seen window on how it is that prosecutors can "indict a ham sandwich." 

If you are at all interested in how folks get "indicted" and how little "indictment" bears on guilt in some situations, here's your proof.  You will rarely see anything like this.  Don't miss this story.  The Arizona Republic and the Phoenix New Times deserve Pulitzer Prizes for their coverage of this story.

God, Save Arizona!

AZCentral is reporting that former Maricopa County Attorney [like a county prosecutor, but way-scarier,] and current Arizona Attorney General candidate Andrew "Yessir Sheriff Joe!" Thomas planned a full-fledged coup with mass indictments of most Maricopans not named Andrew, Joe, or Lisa.   This story is so preposterous that it is a wonder that it hasn't been made into a video game, maybe an update of whack-a-mole.

Bad Lawyer has covered the extensive adventures of Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe, terming their reign of terror, Stalinistic.  But really, words fail when the actual reality exceeds satire.  You can also read quality background coverage at the ABAJournal website and at the Phoenix New Times which is currently  running this report of Sheriff Joe's men run wild.

It's real easy to be cynical about life and law in places like China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, but it isn't much of an exaggeration to find similarities with our Dear Leader Joe and his army of tax-funded lawyers (now, including former Congressman Bob Barr) and armament and other toys bought on the people's credit cards. With outrage after outrage  piling up--is it not a wonderful thing that these clowns are driving immigration politics in the United States? 

Think about this, it's as if Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn were put in charge of immigration policy in America.  But that is exactly what's happening, Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona legislature are dancing to the political tune whistled by Joe Arpaio--and, this song is the mainstay of the immigration platform of one or two American political parties.  I console myself with the firm conviction that when the music is over, there are going to be a lot of politicians running around looking for missing chairs.  There will come a time in this country where we look back at the anti-immigration hysteria driven by these political lizards in Arizona and politicians who happily associate themselves now with these figures and the sentiments that they represent are going to be embarrassed and will try to deny, that they ever were associated with these xenophobic ideals.

Too Late for Bad Sheriff Day, Joe Arpaio Weighs In . . .

Maricopa Sheriff, Joe Arpaio waited a day too long to make onto Bad Lawyer Bad Sheriff Day, but what the Hell we knew he'd make it back in short order and sure enough the Associated Press is reporting the following:

The sheriff of the most populous county in Arizona says he's 'not going to put up with any civil disobedience' when the state's new immigration law takes effect.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says that if protesters want to block his jail, he'll put them in it. The Arizona law, which takes effect Thursday, requires officers enforcing other laws to check a person's immigration status if they suspect the person is in the country illegally.  Arpaio told ABC's  Good Morning America  he doesn't know 'what the big hype is.'  He says it's 'a crime to be here illegally and everyone should enforce' the law.
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This guy is the Bull Connor of our era--thug justice.  Arpaio epitomizes disrespect for the rule of law.  His day will pass and Maricopa County will shudder at the historical association with his image.

Hypebole + Hypocrisy Illustrated

AZCentral is reporting that a visiting Pima County Superior Court Judge overseeing Maricopa County controversies between Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the rest of the elected world has ordered Arpaio to end his defiance of County Supervisors who have ordered him to appear at a county meeting to explain apparent financial misspending issues and produce records Arpaio has thus far refused to produce.  The by JJ Hensley is wonderful for the lawyering hyperbole of Arpaio's mouthpiece:

"[I]n a ruling released Friday, Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Gordon poked holes in nearly all of the sheriff's legal arguments and authorized supervisors to go forward with the hearing.  Eric Dowell, an attorney for Arpaio, said he would appeal Gordon's ruling on the basis that it's unconstitutional for a board to try to preside over an individual when some of its members are suing the very same person.

'That violates every notion of due process and fair play that has ever been recognized by a civilized society recognizing the rule of law,' Dowell said of the hearing the Supervisors are pursuing.

County administrators were pleased with the ruling and said the object of the proceeding is to get answers about spending, not to embarrass Arpaio, who has fought with county employees and elected officials over various issues in the last two years.

'We are pleased that Maricopa County can move forward, on behalf of the taxpayers, to address the objective concerns about certain financial irregularities within the Sheriff's Office. We urge the Sheriff to promptly produce the financial records requested,' county spokeswoman Cari Gerchick said in a statement. 'Maricopa County is pleased that yet another non-Maricopa County judge has ruled that its conduct was completely lawful.'

Gerchick said there was no timetable yet for when the supervisors would seek to hold the hearing for Arpaio.

Arpaio's lawyers argued that the supervisors couldn't call Arpaio before them for a judicial proceeding in part because Arpaio's investigation into county officials and indictments of two county supervisors created a conflict of interest.  The issue arose after months of wrangling between officials in Arpaio's administration and county supervisors over spending in the Sheriff's Office and records that could help confirm or deny the county's suspicions that some money was being spent inappropriately."
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I love this lawyer's remarks, due process ... fair play...rule of law.  Arpaio invented the game of kicking people around without due process, fair play, or the rule of law.  Remember this is the guy who humiliates human beings guilty or not by marching them around in pink jumpsuits, who condones his deputies stealing from the private files and papers of attorneys at the courtroom table, who exercises utter contempt for the orders of Judges he is charged to assist, he's the "public servant" who initiates repeatedly frivolous criminal indictments and civil racketeering lawsuits, who defies federal and state laws, and Arpaio is the Sheriff who spends the taxpayers' money literally like it is nobody's business on, in one case a luxury bus, and private BigLaw attorneys.
 
The claim of attorney Eric Dowell is preposterous and the sort of obnoxious hyperbolic and hypocritical claim that brings contempt on all mouthpieces.

Arizona Republic's In Depth Resource on Sheriff Joe

The Arizona Republic has posted its in-depth look at Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  This is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in a local law story that's gone global.  There are just so many facets to this man, his constituency, the rule of law, and now international migration and relations.  Bad Lawyer has been obsessed with this story since the inception of the blawg, and here in one place are the local mainstream accounts of Arpaio's reign. 

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas: They're Out to Get Me!

Readers of Bad Lawyer know that I think Andrew Thomas (pic) is one very shady character having supplied legal "big guns" to Sheriff Joe Arapio during Arpaio's reign of terror costing the taxpayers of Maricopa County, Az beau coup bucks in damages, lost county services, lost county time and resources, frivolous lawsuits and malicious prosecution of officeholders--ultimately, resulting in the Supreme Court of Az stepping up and appointing a special master to supervise all of the legal activities of Thomas and Arpaio.  As you will recall I predicted on Bad Lawyer that at the end of the day Thomas will lose his license. 

Undaunted, Thomas did such a good job, in his opinion--he wants the voters of Arizona to elect him statewide as Arisona's next attorney general.  Now the Arizona Republic is reporting that Thomas is complaining that the mysterious forces are "conspiring" via a State disciplinary investigation to thwart his ambitions to lead Arizona.  Here's an excerpt from Michael Kiefer's story:

"[T}he chief justice of Arizona ordered an inquiry into Thomas' behavior after a Superior Court judge ruled he acted unethically in his prosecution of Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. Since then, several other complaints have been lodged against Thomas with the state Bar, including one by an association of defense attorneys. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Thomas and his former attorney in the matter, Ernest Calderón, alleged that:

• The special investigator appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court was told there would be 'a predetermined result.'
• The investigator, John Gleason, full-time counsel to the Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Commission, refuses to fully divulge the nature of complaints against Thomas, thus hindering Thomas' ability to respond.
• Calderón was fired by county managers, who were paying his bills, to hinder Thomas' defense.
• The cards were stacked against Thomas from the start. As proof, Calderón noted that Scott Rhodes, an ethics expert, has been retained by interim County Attorney Rick Romley and just won an award from the state Bar. Rhodes was appointed by the high court to investigate Thomas, but he turned down the appointment when Thomas suggested he had conflicts of interest.

Gleason, the state Bar and the Supreme Court all deny any collaboration against Thomas. 'Unequivocally, there is no conspiracy against Andrew Thomas,' said John Phelps, the Bar's chief executive officer. 'Everything we have done is to protect the process and to ensure that Andrew Thomas' rights would be protected.'

The state Bar is a quasi-governmental organization that licenses and polices attorneys in Arizona. Calderón claimed that Gleason has refused to cooperate with Thomas' attorneys, a contention echoed in correspondence to Gleason from Eric Dowell, who remains Thomas' attorney in the Bar matter. A letter sent by Dowell on Monday states that Gleason 'abruptly ended our conversation by slamming down the telephone.'

Calderón and Thomas think it's a conspiracy. "I can only speculate that he came down here and talked to some powers that be and they said, 'You don't understand, we have a predetermined result we need to get to,' " Calderón said.

When reached, Gleason said that he would not respond to the conspiracy claim Gleason denied that he has refused to share with Thomas' attorney the allegations against him. 'How can I possibly investigate allegations against a lawyer if they don't know what has been alleged?' he asked.

Thomas also complained to The Republic that Gleason, a Colorado resident, spent three weeks at the Arizona Biltmore resort while conducting his investigation. Thomas wanted to know who paid for it and why Gleason had stayed at such an expensive resort. Gleason said he obtained a rate of $89 per night and pointed out that he is charging $40 per hour for his services - hundreds of dollars less than the going rate for attorneys.

Jennifer Liewer, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Supreme Court, said, 'John Gleason is a highly experienced and professional discipline investigator. He has regulated Colorado lawyers and judges for more than 22 years for the Colorado Supreme Court. In his extensive years of experience,' she said, 'he knows that, in some cases, lawyers under investigation employ a number of defense tactics including delay and attacking the investigator.'

'He will continue to conduct a fair and impartial investigation, regardless of pressure or attacks from any party involved. However, because rules require confidentially at this point, he will not violate them by responding to any specific issues raised at this time by anyone involved in the matter.'Phelps said Rhodes' consulting work with Romley's office has nothing to do with the Bar. Most of the allegations against Thomas focus on the last two years of his tenure as county attorney, including his prosecutions of county supervisors and Superior Court judges.

Thomas has come under ethical scrutiny before. In spring 2008, several complaints were filed against him involving a contracted attorney who confronted a judge over bail for illegal immigrants, and because of circumstances surrounding the arrests of two New Times editors. Thomas protested unsuccessfully to the Supreme Court to try to stop that investigation. All of the complaints eventually were dismissed."
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As I said before, Thomas is in big trouble, the Arizona Supreme Court should have but an end to Thomas' antics when the Arizona New Times (Maricopa County just paid $40,000 in attorney fees to the New Times last week over some nonsense--when the editors) brought legitimate charges against Thomas previously.  The AZ Supreme Court did not act then and matters became so attenuated that millions of tax dollars have been flushed down the drain trying to maintain the rule of law in one of this Country's biggest metropolitan counties.  I doubt that the Arizona Supreme Court will fail to act this time.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Loves to Spend the Taxpayers' Money on Attorneys!

AZCentral.com is reporting on the efforts of newly-returned Maricopa County, AZ County Attorney Rick Romley to cut Sheriff Joe Arpaio off of the taxpayer funded spending spree on outside counsel.  This is from JJ Hensley and Yvonne Wingett's article:

"A pair of attorneys tending to high-profile issues for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office won't get paid any more for their services until county officials get a better handle on spending in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's agency.

The Sheriff's Office's contract with Kris Kobach, an attorney from Kansas who helped write Arizona's controversial new immigration law, was terminated last month when a representative for interim County Attorney Rick Romley sent a letter announcing the change.

Another attorney representing Arpaio in the U.S. Justice Department's civil- rights investigation into racial-profiling allegations has received more than $150,000 for his work so far. But Maricopa County officials said Thursday they were surprised to learn of Robert Driscoll's compensation, which they believe came from an outside account holding anti-racketeering RICO funds.

'It is, I think, further evidence of potential problems with spending of public monies by the Sheriff's Office,' said county spokeswoman Cari Gerchick. 'We can't imagine it's an appropriate use of funds.'

Kobach has become a national figure in the immigration debate since Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law in April. Even before then, he had already influenced policies at the Sheriff's Office.

Kobach was hired in November to advise then-County Attorney Andrew Thomas' office and the Sheriff's Office on matters related to immigration and law enforcement. He produced a two-hour training video for deputies that included advice on factors that constitute reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally.   Kobach's contract was with Ogletree Deakins, an outside firm Thomas' office hired, and called for Kobach to receive a $300 hourly rate or a $1,500 monthly retainer.   Neither the Sheriff's or County Attorney's offices could say Thursday how much Kobach made in his six months under contract.

Driscoll began working for the Sheriff's Office last summer after Arpaio's agency became the subject of a federal civil-rights investigation.   With a background in the U.S. Attorney General's Office, Driscoll was thought to have the pedigree to lead the Sheriff's Office through a battle with federal investigators.   One month after he was brought in, Driscoll announced that the Sheriff's Office would no longer cooperate with the Justice Department, accusing federal investigators of misleading Arpaio's representatives.

But Driscoll has continued to do work on Arpaio's behalf, to the surprise of Maricopa County administrators.  Alston & Bird, Driscoll's firm, invoiced the Sheriff's Office on March 24, March 29 and again April 12, county officials said.  Based on documents, the officials believe the firm was paid about $155,000, county spokeswoman Gerchick said.[. . . ]

'It's clear that the Sheriff has a right to representation by council (sic) of his choice. He has a right not to be represented by a County Attorney's office that is hostile to his interests,' Driscoll wrote.  [Huh?!!!! Are you kidding the taxpayers?]

County officials first learned of the payments earlier this week after they showed up on spreadsheets sent to the Department of Finance, the county's central finance agency. The payments were included in a spreadsheet created by the Sheriff's Office and used to track and support payments to outside counsel firms.  It is unclear why the expenses were included in the spreadsheets, officials said, because RICO purchases typically are not reported to county finance officials. Amid concerns of questionable spending, the county Board of Supervisors last month decided to freeze Arpaio's access to RICO funds[.]"
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Sheriff Arpaio likes to spend the peoples' money like the proverbial sailor on "shore leave." And Arpaio hates to be accountable to the County for the money he spends, having recently filed another lawsuit to stop the County from obtaining finanicial records of Sheriff's department expenditures this on top of the flurry of frivolous lawsuits and prosecutions pursued against county officials including the presiding Judge, now all dismissed.  This silliness will continue until the taxpayers of Maricopa County get around to saying "enough."

Apaio Pees His Pants, Threatens to Sue All Involved

AZcentral.com reports that Maricopa County Supervisors have selected a replacement for Count Attorney Andrew Thomas who under investigation by the feds, quit supposedly to run for Attorney General.  As you will recall Andrew Thomas was Sheriff Joe Arpaio's closest political ally and chief legal enabler in transforming Maricopa County into a Stalinist terror state on the taxpayers' dimes.  Sheriff Joe Arpaio (America's toughest Sheriff) is threatening to sue everyone involved in the process of choosing Thomas' replacement, (somethings never change,) because Arpaio hates the new guy: Rick Romley. 

Romley (pic) a war hero, served a previous term as the Maricopa County Attorney--frequently, and publically opposing much of Arpaio's nonsense.  He is not easily intimidated by Sheriff Joe's horseshit.  Obviously, Arpaio does not like the prospect of not having his way.

Arpaio's Deputy's Contempt of Court Finding Upheld

Note:  The video is a late add-in; when I wrote about this story originally this video of Stoddard actually committing the offense was not available.  I am delighted ot offer it to you, about a 1 minute into the playback you can watch Stoddard begin his movement towards the counsel's file. 
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[original post, below]

The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the contempt of court finding against Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputy Adam Stoddard (pic), if you have been following this story you'll know that I reported on this outrage in early December, here, on Bad Lawyer.  Prior to reading this story, I thought of Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Sheriff as just some grandstanding clown out of the Southwest.

Then I learned that the Sheriff and his boys nakedly deprived a criminal defendant of his constitutional rights by stealing from his defense lawyer's trial table file, and then defied the Judge's order to apologize.  My opinion about Arpaio and interest in this "law enforcement operation" changed.  Nowadays,  the Arizona Republic website has become a home away form home. 

Today AZCentral is reporting that  the Court of Appeals agreed that the act of Stoddard was egregious, upholding the contempt finding and ordering the trial judge to impose a more traditional contempt penalty: jail or a fine.

Maricopa County Update

According to the ABA Journal, John Gleason,  head of the Colorado Supreme Court disciplinary authority, has been appointed by the Arizona Supreme court to conduct the disciplinary investigations into County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  This is a particularly astute move by the Arizona Supreme Court in light of the vicious fighting and claims of conflict of interest. 

Additionally the Arizona Repubic is reporting that one of the Maricopa County Judges frivolously sued by Thomas and Arpaio for racketeering is now contemplating a malicious prosecution lawsuit.

Finally, one of the County officials who has been repeatedly indicted by County Attorney on trumped up charges brought by Arpaio and Thomas, only to have visiting Judges dismiss the indictiments--County supervisor, Don Stapley has called Arpaio and Thomas, "evil." 

Fear seems to be striking out in Maricopa County.  The Stalinist terror has come to an end.

Department of Justice to Prosecutor Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe, Stop Lying!

The Department of Justice has informed the press and Maricopa County County Attorney, Andrew Thomas that he's a big fat liar.   Thomas explained his voluntary dismissal of his and Sheriff Joe Arpaio's federal civil RICO lawsuit against other Maricopa county officials and state court judges by saying the Justice Deaprtment was taking over the investigation. 

A DOJ letter to Thomas and the media strongly chastizes Thomas for misrepresenting the conversations with DOJ officials, according to azcentral.com.  This Bad prosecutor is going down even his attempts at face-saving are blowing up. 

Here's the thing about RICO lawsuits, --and yes, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act was given its acronym in homage to Edward G. Robbinson who at the end of  the movie Little Ceasar exclaims in his dying breath, "Is this the end of Little Rico?"--18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968 is a federal statute that provides for criminal and civil prosecutions of the mob and anything that looks like the mob. 

As we talked about last night in reporting on the federal judgment that the former mayor of East Chicago, Indiana and his political cronies had turned the city government of East Chicago into a mobbed-up organization.  Civil penalties as you can see from those assessed against former Mayor Pastrick are pretty onerous; on the otherhand, failure to set out a properly plead civil RICO action can cost the lawyer who files the action some pretty heavy civil penalties in the form of back-breaking sanctions under Federal Rule 11. 

The complexity of what must be shown and the detail with which federal courts require elements which must be plead comprise treastise and journals dedicated to the purpose of keeping lawyers out of the Rule 11 woodshed.  This is an area of law that is not unlike a minefield in which the naive and inexperienced are wll-advised not to stray.  Um, I know from experience.

Arpaio and Thomas RICO Lawsuits Dismissed

Things have been rapidly going south for Sheriff Joe and his waterboy, County Attorney Andrew Thomas (pic) as I predicted, here on Bad Lawyer several times since I began to following the stories out of Maricopa County.  Here's the current story at AZCentral.com.

Remember this is the sheriff who called his memoir (the one he didn't write and later admitted, he didn't read) America's Toughest Sheriff; and his prosecutor-on-call, Andrew Thomas.  Essentially the tale of woe is about tax-funded abuse of political and prosecutorial power by Arpaio and Thomas as they indict and sue multiple Maricopa County elected officials for racketeering including indicting Judges who stand up to them and who have the umbrage to throw their frivolous indictments and lawsuits out of court. 

As I suggested sanity was going to creep in the moment Arizona's Supreme Court stepped in and named a special master, former Chief Justice Ruth McGregor to oversee all the Arpaio/Thomas litigation.  Secondly the federal RICO (racketeer influenced corrupt organization) lawsuits filed by Thomas were a step way over the line.  By invoking the federal court jurisdiction, Arpaio and Thomas exposed themselves to pretty heavy sanctions which are already hitting them in a separate civil rights action over the destruction of emails they were ordered to preserve and turn over. 

Likewise state courts have repeatedly tossed the state court indictments including re-indictments dismissed by a visiting judge who called Thomas' actions purely political.

These clowns, Arpaio and Thomas have actively undermined the respect the public once had for their sheriff and prosecutor.  It's truly amazing, the fear this clown had struck with his terrorist tactics in dealing with public officials.  It's coming to an end, I predict at the end of the day, Andrew Thomas will lose his law license.  A lawyer who is a public official cannot seek indictments and file civil lawsuits that are solely intended to punish political opponents without paying an ethical price.  Thomas went way over the line, the disciplinary proceedings have been initiated and they will grind away over the next couple of years, the only thing Thomas has going for his at this point is that the conduct is so complex and byzantine that it make take a long, long time to whack him, but in my opinion he has forced the hand of disciplinary authorities by his hubris.

Bad Prosecutors, Arpaio's Boy, Andrew Thomas Takes the Stand

In the continuing car wreck that is Maricopa County, Arizona local politics there was an extraordinary proceeding yesterday at which Sheriff Joe Arapaio's consigliere, Andrew Thomas testified at a hearing to determine whether Thomas should be disqualified from prosecuting other county officials who are politically at odds with Sheriff Arapaio. 

The Bad Lawyer has followed these cases since thr outset of recent events that include hiring $1100 an hour appellate lawyers from D.C. to advance the personal animus of the Sheriff, the one who calls himself, America's Toughest.  The underlying story is that Maricopa County, which encompasses metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona is the land of the "snow bird." Seniors and others flock south in the winter months, and property values sky-rocketed until recent years.  In the view of Arpaio and others problems in Maricopa County are precipitated by illegal immigration from Mexico and Central American countries.  Arpaio's approach to crime includes enforcing federal immigraton laws, and his approach to enforcing state and local laws are said to involve racial profiling and discrimination especially against persons of hispanic heritage. 

Sheriff Arpaio's power increased with his perceived "tough" on crime approach and reckless disregard for the rule of law as embodied in Arizona and the US. Constitution, to an extent, which open warfare has erupted among elected officials and the judiciary vi-a-vis, the Sheriff.  Instead of reaching out to the other elected officials, Arpaio utilizing the office of the County Attorney, (who is the prosecutor, Andrew Thomas) began obtaining indictments of local officials and recently has taken to bringing federal racketeering lawsuits against County officials.    Think about this, this is sort of like suing your co-workers while claiming you can still provide services to them anf with for your clients--not real easy to do.  Thomas contends that he can sue his co-workers, prosecute his co-workers and still somehow provide services to the citizens of Maricopa County that they hired him to do.

Funny twist on this, this isn't the first time Mr. Thomas prviously obtained indictments against this very county official, Mrs. Mary Rose Wilcox.  In classic prosecutorial overkill he indicted Mrs.Wilcox on multiple, multiple counts accusing her in every variation on a theme of fraud, of false this-false that...for allegedly voting on matters that impacted an Hispanic advocacy organization to which Mrs. Wilcox or her husband was obligated to on loans.  All of these indictments agasint Mrs. Wilcox, and one other county official were dismissed by a Superior Court Judge outside of Maricopa County.  This wasn't what Arapaio wanted, he wanted the heads of these two county officials, so Thomas sought a second prosecution.  Originally, the case files were given to an out of county prosecutor Yavapai County prosecutor Sheila Polk she told Thomas that her review and investigation of the allegations against Mrs. Wilcox revealed no evidence of a crime.  Thomas demanded the files be returned and he went off and obtained a boatload of new indictments against Wilcox et al.  Prosecuor Polk fearing a miscarriage of justice courageously spoke up, penning an op-ed for the Arizona Republic.   Prosecutor Polk also testified, yesterday at the hearing seeking to disqualify County attorney Thomas from further prosecutorial involvement in these matters.  Polk said under oath that the Maricopa County Sheriff's department threatened her if she went public.  Does any of this scare you?  It should. 

Remember, the person not in the courtroom is the driving force behind all of it, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America's "toughest sheriff." 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid30311461001?bctid=66899385001 The link is to the short video excerpts of the hearing.  You can see the witnesses for yourself including Andrew Thomas.