Don Stapley Case: Andrew Thomas Refers Prosecution to Yavapai County; Offers Olive Branch to County Leaders

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is waving the white flag. He's transferring the investigation of Don Stapley and the planned Superior Court building to Yavapai County. And he's offering to resolve through a mediator his legal dispute about the county's civil litigation work. The actions seem to bring this county civil war movie to...

By Ray Stern

April 6, 2009

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Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is waving the white flag.

He's transferring the investigation of Don Stapley and the planned Superior Court building to Yavapai County.

And he's offering to resolve through a mediator his legal dispute about the county's civil litigation work.

The actions seem to bring this county civil war movie to climax. But careful observers could have guessed this ending: Thomas recently lost a series of important battles.

The wanna-be state Attorney General tries to keep his chin up in announcing his surrender:

"Lawsuits, accusations and political infighting are never a good thing, but are particularly
unacceptable during this time of economic distress. Somebody in county government must step forward to try to resolve these differences so we can focus on doing the job we've been elected to do."

Here's Thomas' open letter to Max Wilson, chairman of the Board of Supervisors:

Letter to BOS April 6 2009

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And Thomas' news release:

County Compromise -- 4 6 09

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More to come on this interesting development...

Click here for post with responses from county officials.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.