Criminal Law

Chad Campbell's "Safer Schools, Safer Communities Plan": Yay or Nay?

Arizona House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, has offered up some legislative proposals that are supposed to target gun violence -- one of the few plans we've heard of around here that doesn't include more guns.As a whole, his plan's chance of becoming law is zero percent, but let's get an ... More >>

Chad Campbell, House Democrat, Releases Plan for Schools, Guns, and Mentally Ill

To the credit of the Arizona House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, he unveiled a pretty wide-ranging plan to change laws related to school safety, mental health, and guns.Unfortunately for Campbell, he's in the blood-red legislature in Arizona, so let's just say it's the thought that counts ... More >>

Grinding Justice: Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesn't Work

Jan Brewer's Criminally Insane Son and His Mysteriously Sealed File

​It's no secret -- not really -- that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has a son who is seriously mentally ill. During her years in the state legislature and as a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, she mentioned it often in passing, and earned a reputation as a big-hearted advoc ... More >>

Suicide at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections

Lisa Aubuchon Drove Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' Political Prosecutions -- Now the Feds May Have Them Both In Their Crosshairs

From Brewer to Arpaio, No One's Listening to the Experts About How to Save Money or Protect Civil Rights and Public Safety When It Comes to Juvenile Corrections

The Court Tower Conspiracy: Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio's Court Tower "Cover-Up" Sounds Like a Good Story, But It's Pure Fiction

Ruth McGregor, Former AZ Supreme Court Chief Justice, Appointed "Special Master" for Maricopa County Disputes

​We wouldn't wish this job on our worst enemy.Seeking to somehow manage the chaos that has engulfed the justice system in Maricopa County -- what with the county's presiding criminal court judge facing bizarre charges, a host of judges accused of being part of a "criminal enterprise," and ... More >>

County Attorney's Office Should be Disqualified from Trying Cases, Defense Attorneys Say

Will Andrew Thomas be stopped from handling criminal cases, too? Some defense lawyers are working on it.​Earlier this year, the county took away the Maricopa County Attorney's Office ability to represent the board of supervisors -- setting up a separate "civil litigation" department that ans ... More >>

Dr. Deception: Joseph Franzetti Dispenses $300 Psych Evaluations Like They’re Flu Shots, but the Reports Are Useless

Hendershott on Computer Seizure: "We Felt Intrusion ... Was Imminent;" Wilcox Calls Raid a "Power Grab"

Image: Pool picture taken by Repub photographer​ The chief deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office told a judge yesterday he believed intrusion into a law enforcement computer system "was imminent," the Arizona Republic reported this morning. Apparently, that's the reason the chief de ... More >>

"Appearance of Evil" Requires Personal Sanctions Against County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Say County Supervisors

A conflict of interest between Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and the county Board of Supervisors over the investigation of a planned court tower creates the "appearance of evil," a judge has ruled.  Judge Gary Donahoe The background: In the midst of a feud with the County Superv ... More >>

Can Maricopa County’s Juvenile-Justice System Fix Troubled Teens? Rarely, One Judge Laments

Don Stapley Case: Court Rejects Motion to Change Judge; Prosecutor Denied "Unusual Request" for Judge Interview

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge today rejected a bid by County Attorney Andrew Thomas to change a judge in the politically loaded criminal case of County Supervisor Don Stapley. Thomas (pictured) feels retired Judge Kenneth Fields, assigned to the Stapley case, is biased agai ... More >>

Head on a skewer: Joe Arpaio was so obsessed with getting a hard-charging New Times writer prosecuted that he badgered Andy Thomas into making a fool of himself

Power Play

County law enforcement's attack on the judiciary didn't work, but the war's far from over

SMACKDOWN! Judge Edward Burke bitchslaps Dennis Wilenchik & Andrew Thomas.

New Times Sues County and Special Prosecutor

Teenage Wasteland

It's up to Governor Janet Napolitano to make sure history doesn't repeat itself — that is, boldly reform juvenile corrections. Or at least make sure someone's watching

Judicial Blacklash

The County Attorney's Office declared war on a respected judge after he called a prosecutor's actions racist

Event Full

An all-star indie cast dramatizes the new face of AIDS death

Locked Up

Despite promises of true reform, legislators appear bent on shelling out more money to private prison companies

Clink!

Arizona's prisons are packed. Building more would cost millions. Governor Janet Napolitano wants to lockup even more people. But others say it may be time to let a few out.

See You in October

Federal investigation into juvenile corrections broad but slow

Federal Inquiry

Justice Department examines conditions at state youth facilities

The Kids Are Still Not Alright

Despite public scrutiny, abuse continues at the state's juvenile corrections facilities

Youth Decay

Governor ignores calls for investigation of abuses within juvenile corrections

Letters

From the week of July 26, 2001

Gov: Correct Corrections

Community leaders call for independent task force

Letters

From the week of July 19, 2001

Kid Row

Isolated, abused and lacking mental health care, do juvenile offenders leave state custody in worse shape than when they went in?

Docket Science

Civil suits take back seat to criminal cases in county's full court press

Policy Wanks

Arizona political leaders know the answers but can't seem to pass the violence-prevention test

Net Loss

Twenty years ago-- as gangs began their rise in the valley-shortsighted civic leaders slashed youth programs. Today's troubled kids are still paying the price.

Billion-Dollar Bad Guys

The county's jails are crammed full. But not with the dangerous felons backers of an initiative to raise money for new jails would have you believe.

Business Az Usual

A gruesome death has cost Arizona's multimillion-dollar teen rehabilitation industry a bundle. But it's not because the state is determined to stop the abuse.

Jafet Coronado's Good Samaritan

The nursing assistant was fired for sexual misconduct. But when he was charged with crimes, Samaritan Health System decided he deserved the best defense money could buy.

Joe's Slush Fund

State auditor general confirms that Sheriff Arpaio misspent $122,419

Official Secrecy Acts

Fighting a legal war on multiple fronts, Symington and his attorneys turn to a time-honored tactic: stonewalling

Flashes

Letters

Locked in Masquerade

The Department of Juvenile Corrections helped create an overcrowding crisis in state juvenile facilities--to the benefit of a private contractor that employs two former state officials

"What Do They Do With Judges Who Do Things Like This?"

Mitchell Vanorsby was awaiting trial for armed robbery when a judge let him out of jail. Now he's back behind bars, awaiting trial for murder.

SINS OF COMMISSIONERSTHREE COUNTY COURT COMMISSIONERS ARE FIRED, BUT NOBODY IS SURE WHY

HOW COME A JUDGE?ON PAPER, SYMINGTON'S APPOINTEE LOOKS MORE LIKE A CRONY THAN THE BEST-QUALIFIED JURIST

THE RULE 11 REVOLVING DOOR

A LOOPHOLE HAS ALLOWED THE MENTALLY INCOMPETENT TO COMMIT CRIME AFTER CRIME, WITHOUT BEING PUNISHED OR PLACED UNDER SUPERVISION

AIDS GIRL VINDICATEDSUPREME COURT THROWS OUT CASE THAT MADE RONDA CRACE AN OUTCAST IN PRESCOTT

A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT FOR CALLER IDAG AIDE PULLS A FAST ONE ON FIFE

DIE LIKE A MAN

A BIASED SYSTEM OF JUVENILE JUSTICE LEFT THAT AS HENRY CRUZ'S ONLY CHOICE