The other day, Tiffany Diba’s 5-month-old dog, Colby, followed her command to “sit” and “stay” in a busy store for the first time. The curly-haired shepherd-labrador-retriever mix perked up his ears as she slowly backed away — 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet. He squirmed with the urge to bound…
A mother and her lawyer are hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court shows more common sense than Arizona courts have so far in the case of accused child molester Chris Simcox, who is bound and determined to personally cross-examine his child victims, two girls, ages 8 and 9. Phoenix attorney…
Many questions remain in last week’s tragic murder-suicide at Glendale’s Independence High School that left two 15-year-old girls dead, including who pulled the trigger. The bodies of Dorothy Dutiel and May Kieu were found near an administration building on Friday morning, prompting a security lockdown and early release. Glendale police…
An Ohio man who claims he was stealing to feed his family is accused of holding up 36 Phoenix-area convenience stores and gas stations in the past seven weeks. From December 20 to February 9, federal court records show, Anthony Wayne Hamilton, who’s 25 or 26, threatened victims repeatedly in…
A former priest suspected of killing a second-grade school teacher in 1960 has been arrested in Scottsdale and officially charged with murder. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department’s Criminal Apprehension and Surveillance Team, coordinating with two Texas agencies, the Texas Rangers and the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office, detained John Feit…
Seated in the waiting room of his empty Phoenix office, defense attorney Kirk Nurmi appears beaten and battle weary. Since gaining notoriety defending convicted murderer Jodi Arias, Nurmi has lost 75 pounds, and his clothing drapes loosely on his deflated frame. Yet, at 6-foot-2 and still rotund, he remains an…
A group of Arizona lawmakers are using a new bill to take aim at the educational and leadership qualifications of Greg McKay, director of the Department of Child Safety. House Bill 2662 spells out new minimum requirements for the position — none of which McKay satisfies — that will limit…
If Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton gets his way, all police officers in the city will be outfitted with body-worn cameras within the next three years. In a joint statement with Councilwoman Thelma Williams, Stanton said he is officially asking City Manager Ed Zuercher to include the funding for such a…
Advocates for transgender rights set the Internet afire with rage this weekend after Mesa police identified a 24-year-old transgender man who was shot and killed by police as a woman. Kayden Clarke, named by police and, subsequently, the media (Including New Times), as Danielle Jacobs, started asking friends and family to…
Two Mesa police officers who shot and killed a 24-year-old woman with Asperger’s syndrome have been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate, it was announced today. “We don’t know at this point why they made the decision to go lethal,” police spokesman Esteban Flores told reporters. Three officers went…
Two trouble-making teens from a Tempe trailer park stand accused of nearly killing passengers in two cars with rifle fire. Ivan Dominguez, 18, and an unnamed 15-year-old were arrested and booked into jail on Thursday night in connection with the crime. Detective zeroed in on the boys one day after…
An unknown shooter targeted two cars randomly on a Tempe street on Wednesday night, Tempe police say, injuring no one but sparking a call to the public for information. The shootings come several months after Governor Doug Ducey famously tweeted “We got him!” following the arrest of a suspect accused…
Six months after a huge public outcry about the number of children sleeping in the Department of Child Safety’s Phoenix office buildings inspired the agency to open a 24-hour emergency placement center, the department is announcing the center will close, and that some kids in state care will probably have…
Justin LaClere, 33, was sentenced to 60 days in jail for “luring a minor for sexual exploitation,” a class 3 felony, and “sexual conduct with a minor,” a class 6 felony — charges that often carry a two- to seven-year sentence. A seven-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, LaClere…
As soon as the family and friends of 34-year-old Tempe resident Sean Mould learned that he had been fatally shot in the abdomen by a police officer for allegedly wielding a pocket knife, they were skeptical of the officer’s story. Multiple family members told New Times in the days after…
Arizona Senator John Kavanagh, a former officer with the New York Police Department and ardent pro-law enforcement advocate, filed a bill this week that critics say is patently unconstitutional and just another example of how Kavanagh “panders to the cops.” Senate Bill 1054 would restrict the public’s ability to record…
Forty-year-old Sidney Cranston Jr., got on his motorcycle the morning of June 16 to meet a buyer at a vacant property in Kingman. Later that day, he was scheduled for an important meeting with the Kingman City Council regarding the sewer hookup on the house he was selling. It was…
If there’s ever a time to put on your fancy clothes, pop that bubbly, and hit the town, it’s tonight: New Year’s Eve. If there’s ever a time to take an Uber, a Lyft, a taxi — or a bus or a train or a flying carpet – it’s tonight:…
A Tempe police officer fatally shot a knife-wielding man late Sunday night after two officers responded to a domestic-violence call on West Freemont Street. The shooting death comes at the end of a year in which officer-involved shootings dominated national discourse. According to Lieutenant Mike Pooley of the Tempe PD,…
2015 has not been a good year for Arizona’s most-vulnerable population: kids in the child welfare system. In early February, without much explanation, newly appointed Governor Doug Ducey fired Charles Flanagan, director of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety, and in his place, installed Greg McKay, a police officer who headed the…
For more than 11 months, prosecutor Juan Martinez and defense attorney Kirk Nurmi clashed during the trials of convicted boyfriend murderer, Jodi Arias. Now the two lawyers are sparing once again in conflicting books about the case. Martinez’s book, Conviction: The Untold Story of Putting Jodi Arias Behind Bars, is set…
Terrorist supporters of ISIS in Phoenix are attempting to recruit high school students, according to the controversial and outspoken former president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. Just days following the November 13 coordinated ISIS attacks in Paris, members of the FBI met with patrol officers at the Cactus Park…
