Retired Mesa police union president Javier Fabian Cota won a partial victory this week in his civil-rights lawsuit against San Diego police, but so far no monetary award or reimbursement of his many expenses. The flap began about 3 a.m. on June 4, 2011, while Cota was in downtown San…
Attorney Mel McDonald, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s personal Bruce Cutler, rode on the coattails of Birther lawyer Larry Klayman Friday morning by filing a motion in Phoenix federal court to have Judge G. Murray Snow recuse himself from the contempt proceedings in the civil rights case Melendres v. Arpaio. Klayman’s move to…
Talk about chutzpah. If a well-dressed moocher were to approach you and ask for money to fight a serious criminal allegation, would you give it to him? What if he admitted that he might kinda-sorta be guilty? And, oh, he has a well-paying job (six figures), owns loads of pricey…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s racial profiling ways are making a serious dent in Maricopa County’s budget, to the tune of $44.5 million, and counting. Maricopa County’s fiscal year 2016 budget, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Monday, allocates $23.8 million for costs associated with complying with a federal court’s…
A former Scottsdale woman is making a last-ditch effort to avoid losing her Rocky Point condo over a fight between a developer and construction workers. Donna Peckenpaugh faces imminent eviction from her condo at Bella Sirena on Sandy Beach, as well as the total loss of the $350,000 she paid…
During a status conference Thursday in Sheriff Joe’s never-ending contempt case, federal Judge G. Murray Snow laid some much-deserved wood to Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, blasting them for ginning up a “bogus conspiracy theory” against his court. According to Snow, the conspiracy theory resulted from Arpaio’s use of…
Which Tim Casey do you believe? There’s the Tim Casey who issued the following statement via his “ethics attorney” (read, “flack”) Karen Clark in April, after his former client Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arpaio’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan stated under oath in federal court that Casey, their ex-lawyer in the…
The City of Phoenix and police Officer Mark Rine are getting sued in federal court for the death of Rumain Brisbon, a 34-year-old unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Rine on December 2, 2014. The plaintiffs include Mykel Chambers, mother of one of Brisbon’s three daughters and the…
Since my year-old public records requests to the MCSO regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s costly Seattle snipe hunt continue to be unfulfilled, I’ve decided to periodically release information I’ve collected regarding the sheriff’s flunkies involved in the operation. As confirmed by both Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, the MCSO…
The majority of Maricopa County voters have an unfavorable view of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, according to a new poll. Public Policy Polling found that only 38 percent of county voters have a favorable view of Arpaio, compared with 53 percent who have an unfavorable view of him. “It’s hard to…
Adrian Cruz, the child-raping ice cream peddler who escaped from MCSO custody in 2009, is back behind bars, no thanks to Sheriff Joe. Mexican police, tipped off by the U.S. Marshals Service that Cruz was in Valle de Bravo, a small municipality about 90 miles west of Mexico City, nabbed…
National media coverage of Arizona’s toughest-talking sheriff’s contempt trial paints a subdued portrait of Joe Arpaio, infamous for his ruthless opposition to illegal immigration, describing him as a “quiet, almost deferential,” “humble and weary retiree.” While some suggest the personality flip may signal the fall of a hero for the…
While Sheriff Joe Arpaio was testifying in federal court last week in his civil contempt trial, there’s been movement in another lawsuit that could cause more trouble for Arpaio and taxpayers. Last January, as part of Arpaio’s crusade to arrest unauthorized immigrants in workplace raids, the Sheriff’s Office actually went…
Deputy Sean Pearce was ineligible for defensive-driving class because his speeding ticket involved a fatality, a Glendale judge found earlier this month. Pearce, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s office detective and son of recalled state lawmaker Russell Pearce, had been going 81 mph in a 40-mph-zone while tracking a murder suspect…
Here’s my pick for the most ridiculous quote from MCSO Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan’s testimony in federal court Friday, during day-four of his and Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s civil contempt trial in downtown Phoenix: “It depends on how you define, `investigated your wife,'” said Sheridan, his face redder than a pack…
In my line of work, it doesn’t get much better than a federal judge’s handing your column to a public official, and getting the accused pol to confirm the column’s facts, one by one, under oath. This is what happened on day three of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s civil contempt trial,…
Think To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch doing Jedi mind tricks on an addled Emperor Palpatine. That’s what Stanley Young, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in the ACLU’s big civil rights case Melendres v. Arpaio, resembled as he interrogated Sheriff Joe Wednesday afternoon during day two of Joe’s civil contempt trial…
MCSO Sergeant Brett Palmer sang like Pavarotti on the stand Tuesday afternoon during his boss Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s civil contempt trial, laying the blame for the MCSO’s defiance of a federal court’s orders directly at his jefe’s feet. Dressed in civilian attire, Palmer, who once helped manage the MCSO’s now-defunct…
Wacko bigot preacher Brother Dean Saxton and a crew of fellow jerks harass the mosque in Tempe I hate giving morons free publicity, but sometimes it’s necessary to spotlight the stupid as a sort of public service. Such is the case with Tucson’s notorious “slut-shaming” street preacher Brother Dean Saxton,…
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, is celebrating Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails. Of course, PETA’s not celebrating the jails for its treatment of human beings, but for how Arpaio’s compassionate to animals for implementing a vegan diet at the jails. Never mind the photo at…
The trial of ex-Minuteman leader Chris Simcox on allegations that he molested two young girls in 2013 was put on hold Thursday by an Arizona Supreme Court Justice, at least till the end of this month. At issue is whether the 54 year-old Simcox, who is representing himself, will be…
Videos released by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office show a jail inmate beating up multiple detention officers and the foul interior of a Wittman hoarder’s home. Both are newsworthy and, well, just darned interesting to watch. In the first, shot two weeks ago by a surveillance video in the Lower…
