The disputed records include video footage of the final minutes of prisoner Juan Mendoza Farias' life. Farais died on December 5, 2007, after an altercation with 11 guards in the Lower Buckeye Jail that left him with bruises and welts covering much of his body.
An independent medical examiner reviewed Farias' autopsy and told New Times that he was beaten and suffocated before he died ("Dead Again," September 11).
courtesy of The Arizona Republic
Dennis Wilenchik
A morgue photo of Juan Mendoza Farias, who died under suspicious circumstances in Arpaio's jail.
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Last July, New Times asked the sheriff for video footage and other public records about Farias' death. In August, Lieutenant Dot Culhane, a legal liaison for the sheriff, said the footage and records would not be released because they are part of an ongoing investigation.
Case law in Arizona, however, dictates that merely claiming an investigation is ongoing — without showing specific, serious harm that releasing the records would cause — is not a valid reason for law enforcement to deny a public-records request.
On September 11, New Times published a story about Farias' death, in which it was mentioned that Arpaio's staff would not deliver records that Arizona law deems public.
The next week, New Times received a letter that included Farias' booking photograph. In it, Pam Woody, another legal liaison, wrote that if the video of Farias' death were released, guards might see it, which could compromise the sheriff's investigation into the death.
"For example," Woody wrote, "if a witness were to view a videotape of the incident or have information relayed . . . by someone who viewed the videotape, it is possible that the witness' memory of what occurred will be altered to conform to what they believe they are seeing or what they have been told."
In the October 6 complaint, New Times attorney Suskin writes that "Arpaio's refusal to allow examination of the original videotape or other digital display of the death of Mr. Farias or to provide copies of other documents, as requested, constitutes a violation of [state law]."
The complaint adds that withholding the video "is without merit, speculative, made in bad faith, and insufficient as a matter of law to avoid compliance with the Arizona Public Records Law. Arpaio presented nothing more than global generalities of the possible harm that might result from release of the requested public records."
The sheriff has 20 days from the time he was served with the complaint to file a legal explanation for withholding the records. The complaint for special action is not a civil lawsuit seeking monetary reward. Special action is a legal device that requires government agencies to abide by the law.
