The State of Arizona put murderer Donald Beaty to death last night in Florence, ending a 27-year legal battle that began with the maintenance man’s arrest for raping and killing a little Tempe girl. Predictably, the politicians who bemoaned the interminable wait between Beaty’s conviction a quarter-century ago and his…
Louie Puroll, a former Pinal County sheriff’s deputy whose tale about getting shot by illegal-alien dope smugglers in the desert near Interstate 8 came under fire last year, is not, repeat not, back on the job. A colleague pointed out a comment attached online to one of his stories that claimed Puroll –…
At one point, Goodman claimed that the shuttered fiduciary firm, the Sun Valley Group, in cahoots with Superior Court Judges and a cabal of greedy attorneys, was ripping off adults deemed “incapacitated” by the court for everything they had. Judges often appoint private fiduciaries to help with all aspects of a clients’s…
Both Arizona major-college softball programs rolled through their respective NCAA Regionals over the weekend in Tempe and Tucson, the first of two steps necessary to earn a coveted spot in the College World Series. Neither squad really was tested in the four-team tourney, each going unbeaten in three games to…
We corresponded with child killer Donald Beaty for awhile back in the late 1980s, for a story on Arizona’s death row. In fact, we met him briefly during a surreal tour of Cellblock 6, where the condemned used to be “housed” for decades. Beaty was the Valley’s most reviled person…
James Harden, who would have been a senior this past season at ASU had he not gone to the NBA after his sophomore season, destroyed the Dallas Mavericks in a nationally televised game last night, as his Oklahoma City Thunder evened their Western Conference final series at a game each…
We loved Lamont “MoMo” Jones and his critical role as a quasi-point guard on an exciting Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team that literally came an inch from a berth in the Final Four. But we equally appreciated MoMo’s goofy motormouth, which was extensively quoted by team beat writers and others…
Time was, Arizona State’s fast-pitch softball team was a decided lesser-light, an afterthought of a program whose “rivalry” with the Arizona Wildcats was anything but. But the arrival of a new head coach, Clint Myers, a few years ago changed all that in a hurry. These days the program…
We first came upon John Dowd when he represented Major League Baseball in the Pete Rose scandal. Dowd was the consummate Washington D.C. bigtimer who could bloviate with the best (or the worst) of `em. (If you have trouble viewing this clip, try Firefox). At least a few readers may…
We get the occasional e-mail or phone call from a variety of folks wondering what happened to the criminal case against Michael Marin. He’s the onetime financial analyst, art collector and author who stands accused of torching his sprawling Biltmore Estates mansion in the summer of 2009. In two words, not much. Marin…
Manny Pacquiao is the undisputed best pound-for-pound boxer in the world at the moment, an unofficial honor that is a first for a Filipino. He is a transcendent figure, a living myth, who combines what seems to be true humility and dignity with amazing pugilistic skills and power. We joined…
The upshot of the piece came in what we call the “nut graf,” a sentence or two that tells the reader why he or she may want to spend the time getting through one of our monsters. Fenske wrote: “A growing number of probate court observers worry that Grant Goodman…
We are a sucker for the odd court case, and the April 29 Arizona Court of Appeals decision in Cindy Vong and LaVie, LLC vs. the Arizona Board of Cosmetology more than fills the bill. Vong owns LaVie, a nail salon out in Gilbert. In 2008, she advertised that she…
Retired Phoenix police Officer Jason Schechterle got some unexpected news on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the horrific car crash that should have killed him. It came in a March 23 letter from the Industrial Commission of Arizona, signed by Antonio Escobar, Awards Specialist II. Escobar informed Schechterle,…
T he relationship between Alyssa Goodale and the women treating her for Lyme disease ended abruptly in February 2010. It had not been inexpensive, costing Alyssa’s parents more than $10,000 out of pocket over a four-month stretch on “energy machine” sessions and vitamin and nutritional supplements, not to mention a…
Ron Reinstein was one of the more respected Maricopa County Superior Court judges in his 22 years on the bench that ended with his 2007 retirement. …
The startling news last night of Osama bin Laden’s assassination evoked many responses from friends of ours, including one from an old bud named Corey after he saw this headline graphic on the Fox News affiliate in Sacramento (Fox40): “REPORTS: OBAMA BIN LADEN DEAD” Said Corey, “I know they probably…
Opening statements in the Mark Goudeau murder trial aren’t scheduled to start until June 6, but attorneys already have started the long grind of trying to pick a jury. We will watch that death-penalty case when it finally gets going — it’s supposed to take more than a year to…
It’s easy to talk about what Arizona doesn’t have, but sometimes it’s good to focus on the positive. On one hand, Arizona lacks things like salt shops or fall. On the other, the state is blessed with a vibrant professional wrestling community. The crown jewel of that community is Elite…
Faleh Almaleki probably will die in prison, where a county judge has sent him for murdering his daughter and seriously injuring a former family friend. Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle sentenced the 50-year-old Glendale resident to more than 34 years in prison, of which he will have to serve about…
Jurors deliberated all day today in the assisted-suicide manslaughter case of two men accused in the 2007 death of a Phoenix woman. Egbert is the medical director of the right-to-die group Final Exit Network, became involved in the suicide of 58-year-old Jana Van Voorhis in early 2007 after the mentally…
An eight-person jury is to start deliberations today in a difficult case involving a suicidal Phoenix woman and a national right-to-die organization. Superior Court Judge Paul McMurdie is presiding at the manslaughter trial of co-defendants Larry Egbert and Frank Langsner, who are charged in the 2007 assisted suicide of 58-year-old Jana…
