Wayne Legg and his wife live inside the gated community known as the Phoenician II at 65th Street and Camelback. Ordinarily, someone with the 66-year-old Legg’s credentials–longtime partner in a respected law firm, former Republican party county chairman, former chief counsel to Arizona State University–would be reaping the benefits of…

The cottage industry that is Dr. Park Elliott Dietz swept into Phoenix September 12 to discuss stalkers, famed serial murderers and other assorted bad guys. Dietz spoke to a rapt group of mental-health professionals, police officers and attorneys during a seminar at the downtown Hyatt Regency. Others in attendance included…

Scott Virzi’s legal odyssey started in October 1992, after undercover police arrested him for buying child pornography at a Phoenix hotel. In June 1995, a jury convicted Virzi under Arizona’s unyielding Dangerous Crimes Against Children laws. Virzi–an investigator for Nevada’s Gaming Control Commission when arrested–faced 48 years in prison without…

The 1992 case of the little boy and the big, bad hospital captivated the community and Arizona legislators. Readers who lived in the Valley at that time may recall the page-one brouhaha: In a series of stories, the Arizona Republic detailed Phoenix Memorial Hospital’s use of a device called a…

Victoria Painter’s story is an all-but-forgotten footnote in the infamous Temple murders case. But its final chapter has yet to be written. In September 1992, the Phoenix resident sued the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and one of its officers, Larry Troutt. The lawsuit included…

In a better world, June 6 would have been a fine day for Glendale police officer Janis Whitson. That day, Whitson’s immediate supervisor completed his annual review of the 12-year veteran’s performance. “You have been a strong participant in team efforts and have promoted cooperative behavior and team efforts on…

School administrator Judith DeWalt joked with a friend and her attorney Monday as she arrived for a hearing before the Arizona Board of Education. When she left an hour later, she was in tears. In a stunning 6-1 vote, the board censured DeWalt for “unprofessional conduct” in failing to report…

Wade Hutchins’ day of reckoning has arrived. The former teacher was to be sentenced June 19 for molesting more than two dozen boys at north Phoenix’s Cactus View Elementary School. A long prison sentence is a certainty. The incarceration of a criminal–especially in such an emotion-charged case–often marks a turning…

Luis Sharpe contacted New Times staff writer Paul Rubin several weeks ago from the Maricopa County Jail. The ex-Arizona Cardinals star said he was ready to talk about his demise publicly and unconditionally. The pair spent more than 12 hours in jailhouse sessions between May 13 and May 22, when…

For almost 20 years, fire captain Gary Pykare had looked death in the eye, chuckled, and gone fishing. But on May 12, the longtime business manager of the Phoenix firefighters’ union died of cancer at his home in Cave Creek. He was 54. On May 15, about 1,000 of Pykare’s…

A judge who was roundly criticized for releasing a shooting suspect has lost his job. Maricopa County Presiding Judge Robert Myers says he decided to remove Walter Jackson from the initial-appearance bench in the wake of New Times’ story about the release of Dennis Earl Bryley (“Who Sprung Alleged Shooter?”…

On April 25, Glendale police arrested Dennis Earl Bryley on charges of shooting a security guard during a burglary last July. The arrest came months after police had booked another man, Eli Balkcom, on attempted-murder charges in that case (“Bad Blood,” May 2). Now, authorities are scrambling to explain why…

Glendale Police Sergeant Frank Balkcom steers his cruiser into a narrow alley. It’s past midnight on a Monday in April. He’s only a mile from the postcard-perfect downtown of Glendale, Arizona’s fourth-largest city. But this is a different world, one with which Balkcom, who is of Hispanic and German descent,…

Mariano Albano entered this life 44 years ago on a pool table in downtown Phoenix, a few yards from where America West Arena now stands. Two decades or so after that auspicious debut, Albano joined the Phoenix Police Department as a skinny rookie patrol officer. Last week, the incurable iconoclast–who…

The mission of the “sexual predators” part of Arizona’s year-old Community Protection Act sounds compelling: keeping the vilest, most aberrant and most dangerous sex criminals off the streets after they complete their prison terms. The predators component of the new law is set to take effect October 1. That’s when…

A woman in a long dress sat quietly on a living-room couch as the clergymen debated how to cope with Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s media machine. The subject was Arpaio’s heavily publicized chain-gangs-burying-the-indigent-and-learning-a-valuable-lesson-while-saving-taxpayer-dollars shtick. On March 14, the first such chain-gang burials had provided the sheriff with a terrific photo opportunity…

The aggravated-assault case against 17-year-old Lynn Ivory was full of holes, not the least of which was that the Phoenix youth’s alleged victims didn’t want to testify against him. One of the victims already had recanted his original claim–that Ivory had allegedly pointed a pistol at the two men. The…

The name Stephen Charles Peterson Jr. is but a blip in the annals of Arizona white-collar crime. But the 54-year-old Peterson has earned a special place as a memorable crook, mostly by dint of his chutzpah. Since 1990, Peterson has used legitimate institutions–city councils, a governor’s office, a large corporation,…

Tolleson Justice of the Peace Joe Guzman says Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox personally delivered a message to his office last November 20. It concerned her brother-in-law Danny Wilcox, an elected constable assigned to Guzman’s court. Guzman says the message was direct: “Mrs. Wilcox informed my assistant that Constable…

It’s an hour after serial knockout artist Julio Cesar Chavez has made Mesa’s Scott “Pink Cat” Walker his latest victim. Walker is wandering around Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with his girlfriend, looking little the worse for wear. He tries his hand at a $1 slot, but his luck with…

Larry Stam finished his graveyard shift at a Phoenix convenience store last September 7, showered, and drove to the county courthouse. He was headed for a hearing before Superior Court Judge William Sargeant III. The hearing concerned Mitchell Vanorsby, with whom Stam had shared a brief, unforgettable experience. “That guy…

By most accounts, the child-molestation case against Mesa appliance-store owner Arvine Hardwick was sound. At trial in early 1994, Hardwick’s three alleged victims–sisters then ranging in age from 12 to 16–held their own as they told horrific tales of misplaced trust and seduction. A Maricopa County jury then convicted Hardwick…