The 12 jurors filed solemnly into the downtown Phoenix courtroom after lunch last November 14, a Monday. It had been three long months since opening statements in the tragic murder case of Arizona vs. Jeffrey Martinson. For their troubles — and there were many — the jurors were paid all…
If all goes according to plan, death row inmate Robert Towery will die tomorrow, moments after Arizona authorities inject him with a lethal poison. Towery has been residing on the row at the state prison in Florence for two decades, since being sentenced in the horrific September 1991 Paradise Valley murder…
For Arizona State, it’s a chance at redemption after a lost season with just ten wins (but one of those was last Sunday’s stunner over Arizona). For the Wildcats, it’s desperation time, as they have to win at least two games and probably three at the Pac-12 basketball tournament to return for the umpteenth…
The American Civil Liberties Union (and other public-service organizations and law firms) filed a monumental class-action lawsuit within the hour on behalf of 14 prisoners against the Arizona Department of Corrections and its current direct, Charles Ryan. The 78-page complaint was filed at the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix. Among its…
As far as lawsuits go, the Maricopa County Superior Court case of Alice and George Kaplan v. Chandler was anything but monumental. Heck, all it concerned was a broken water pipe at an unoccupied building that the couple own in the East Valley city. The Kaplans claimed that the city…
Arizona State’s basketball team (the guy’s version) has been ranked in the lower realms of all Division I programs this season, and yesterday afternoon’s game in Tempe against the Arizona Wildcats had the makings of a butt-whipping–for the Cats. Most of those geeks who study the “Bubble” as if…
We used to love to check out the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team when they skated around the arena in downtown Phoenix. The crowds were enthusiastic, even if the team itself never could get past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Then they moved out to the hinterlands of…
We didn’t go by the Wells Fargo Arena last night for Arizona State’s 66-57 loss to UCLA, but we know a few diehards who tells us that the announced attendance of 5,477 was exaggerated by a whole lot. The game itself was a microcosm of ASU’s lost season–a nice effort…
The Phoenix Suns were a bit like Rick Santorum at the Republican debate in Mesa last night: They started terribly, got way behind, made a late comeback, but faded at the end in a stinging 106-104 home loss last night to the Golden State Warriors. The last game before the…
The old saw that he who represents himself in court has a fool for a client carries weight with us, having seen the usually sorry outcomes of such endeavors. But an Arizona Court of Appeals decision filed last week gives a local woman hope that her self-composed lawsuit against…
This whole Jeremy “Linsanity” Lin thing is out of control, and the NBA is far better for it, a one-off feel-good, out-of-the-box, unexpected story that transcends the game itself. If Lin had arisen from nowhere in, say, Sacramento, Salt Lake City or right down the street here in Phoenix,…
Arizona could have folded last night up in Pullman, Washington, traditionally a difficult road game for any team in the Pac-12. Jesse Perry, one of the Wildcats’ key players, was saddled with his fourth foul early in the second half and had to sit for a long stretch. Washington State’s burly…
The struggling Arizona State’s men’s basketball team will be in the Great Northwest this weekend, and a win tonight over Washington or against Washington State on Saturday would qualify as a huge surprise. Tonight’s game in Seattle, which starts at 9 p.m. our time and will be aired on Channel…
The family of a Hawaii inmate who was brutally murdered at a private prison in Eloy in 2010 filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) yesterday in Honolulu. Bronson Nunuha, who was 26, died in February 2010 after being beaten stabbed more than 100 times by…
The Phoenix Suns seemed in control of the Golden State Warriors for about the first 34 minutes of last night’s game in San Francisco. The problem was, the pro game is 48 minutes long, and the Suns couldn’t stop the Warriors for the duration, losing 102-96. Marcin Gortat had…
We are loathe to spend much more time on the legal doings of Paradise Valley businessman Brian Weymouth, at least until things move forward in the pending major felony criminal case against him. Hell, we just published a cover story on the guy, describing how he allegedly ripped off hundreds of thousands…
The Arizona Wildcats and Colorado Buffs are very similar teams–scrappy, undersized, terrific team defense, very well-coached. The two teams met last month in Boulder, and the Cats lost a one-point heartbreaker. Last night in Tucson was a different story, as Arizona, playing with just seven players, wore down Colorado in…
Lots of sports action in Tempe this weekend, which for our purposes starts tonight at the Wells Fargo Arena, where the ASU Sun Devils should be in a close, if not so artistic, battle against the equally lowly Utah Utes. With Lockett, ASU was a marginal-at-best team. Without him, well,…
Brian Weymouth, a Paradise Valley businessman now facing major felony charges, has filed a civil lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court against several county officials and a former business partner. Brian Weymouth, who definitely prefers this photo better to his mugshot. The suit, which was preceded months ago by a Notice of Claim…
Phil Mickelson, who remains one of the world’s most popular golfers even as his game slowly fades, was cordial, yet short, when we asked him at the Waste Management Open about his new lawsuit. “I support freedom of speech 100 percent all the way, but I’m not going to stand for someone…
A Maricopa County jury convicted Harold “Bud” Lee Jr. of three felony counts related to gambling on Friday, including conspiracy and illegal control of an enterprise. The 68-year-old Lee, who once served as a Phoenix Justice of the Peace, was allowed to remain free from custody until his sentencing, now scheduled for…
The Arizona Wildcats’ triple-overtime road win last year over California-Berkeley was one of the best college games we’ve seen in awhile, and not just because our alma mater came out on top by a score of 107-105 We were looking forward to last night’s rematch (the only time the two…
