October has not been a kind month for Sheriff Joe Arpaio in his ongoing contempt trial before federal Judge G. Murray Snow. With only a few witnesses left, and oral arguments scheduled for November 10, an end to the trial, which began in April, is near. The 10 biggest revelations of the month follow:
10. Arpaio's birther buddy, Cold Case Posse commander Mike Zullo, invokes his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, momentarily dodging a deposition and delaying, for a brief moment, his turning over certain documents to the plaintiffs.
9. Though attorneys for Arpaio, Sheridan, and other co-defendants previously have suggested that they represent Zullo, and though these attorneys have done legal work on Zullo's behalf, Zullo says the legal beagles recently dropped him like a bag of hot rocks.
8. MCSO Captain Steve Bailey, former Professional Standards Bureau commander, testifies that Arpaio attorney Michele Iafrate told him to mislead the court's monitor about 1,500 IDs the MCSO had discovered in July, and that he did not think the Seattle investigation was a proper use of state RICO funds.
7. Private investigator Don Vogel, the MCSO's pick to investigate the agency's violation of a December 2011 order from Judge Snow, testifies that Arpaio had "failed in his responsibility" as sheriff and cited evidence that the sheriff's disobedience of the court may have been willful.
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6. Sergeant Travis Anglin, one of the three investigators assigned to the Seattle operation, testifies that Arpaio would ask about information related to Judge Snow. When Anglin advised Arpaio to steer clear of Zullo and Montgomery, Arpaio "asked who the fuck I thought I was."
5. Questioned by the judge, Arpaio could not recall much of anything he did to implement Snow's 2011 order: "I don't know who we gave it to," Arpaio told the judge.
4. Arpaio admits that he met with confidential informant Dennis Montgomery and was aware of his checkered reputation, but the sheriff continued to do business with him.
3. MCSO Detective Brian Mackiewicz, one of the three operatives assigned to the Seattle probe, describes how he, Zullo, and Montgomery searched for Judge Snow's name in Montgomery's database at the very beginning of the investigation.
2. Arpaio claims the Seattle investigation was about the CIA's swiping banking info from 150,000 Maricopa County residents, including Snow, whom Arpaio called a "victim." But Arpaio could not explain why his investigators never approached the judge about Snow's being a victim of a crime.
1. Arpaio is questioned about a smoking gun memo he typed on the back of a conspiracy timeline, faxed to him by Montgomery. In his memo, Arpaio notes Snow's biographical details — and speculates on Snow's ties to the bogus anti-Joe conspiracy.