Mary Rose Wilcox Granted $975,000 Judgment by Federal Judge; Sidesteps County Efforts to Check Payment

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake's final order in the proposed settlement by Maricopa County to Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox: Pay the woman.In an order on Friday, Wake granted Wilcox's motion to enforce the settlement order, stating that Wilcox "shall have judgment" in the amount agreed, plus an additional $28,000...

By Ray Stern

June 4, 2012

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U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake's final order in the proposed settlement by Maricopa County to Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox: Pay the woman.

In an order on Friday, Wake granted Wilcox's motion to enforce the settlement order, stating that Wilcox "shall have judgment" in the amount agreed, plus an additional $28,000 for legal fees.

As we explained in our May 25 post, County Treasurer "Hos" Hoskins and County Attorney Bill Montgomery still will fight to apply a law that seemed to state how county supervisors need the authority of one other supervisor and the treasurer to be paid on a claim.

The county switched out its attorneys in the case after Cave Creek Councilman Steven LaMar did not press the case for the application of that law during a hearing before Wake last month.

Wilcox, who's running for re-election this year, sued the county after the failed prosecution against her by the now-disbarred former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, which was based on a crappy investigation by Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office.

Click here to see Wake's order regarding the $975,000 judgment in favor of Mary Rose Wilcox.

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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.