Whenever federal Judge G. Murray Snow questions Sheriff Joe Arpaio during the sheriff’s ongoing contempt trial, all kinds of muscles tighten at the defense table. And for good reason, Snow knows the case better than anyone. He also remembers in detail what people say in his court, and he most…
There is Arpaio as he would have the world see him, and there is Arpaio as he actually is. So many of Arpaio’s fans — the people who vote for him and nearly worship him — couldn’t care less about the reality beneath the public image of a strutting tough…
This is not a lede from The Onion, but it could be: Anti-dug crusader and former, high ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official Sheriff Joe Arpaio is scheduled to speak to seniors this week at a pro-pot event in Sun City. Sure, Arpaio regularly kvetches about illicit drugs like marijuana…
For Nixon, it was a specific audio tape revealing the president’s obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair. For Reagan’s Iran-Contra scandal, it was an ex-Marine in Nicaragua named Eugene Hasenfus. For Bill Clinton, it was Monica Lewinsky’s stained, blue dress. But for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his “smoking gun” is…
It’s every man for himself over at Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s version of the Andrea Gail, where the perfect storm of his contempt trial threatens to take down lieutenants and chief deputies alike. Civil defense costs for Arpaio and his four co-defendants are being picked up by the taxpayers of Maricopa…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio was on the stand for just 90 minutes during the fifth day of his contempt trial, but those 90 minutes, and the testimony of an MCSO lieutenant, welded him to the plot to undermine federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s court. Thursday’s revelations will be familiar to regular…
I’ve seen this routine so many times, I can anticipate Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s lines before they drop from his thin, bloodless lips. Late Wednesday afternoon, Arpaio took the stand in his contempt trial before federal Judge G. Murray Snow. And he relied on some of his favorite ploys, ones I’ve…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s former mouthpiece Tim Casey sang like an Irish tenor in federal court Tuesday, rolling on his onetime client and implicating him in criminal contempt of the court’s orders. Casey was instructed to testify by federal Judge G. Murray Snow over the continuing objections of his ethics attorney…
Given current events, Sheriff Joe Arpaio should consider changing his theme song from Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” to The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” Two subpoenas issued by lawyers for the plaintiffs in the federal contempt trial of Arpaio, his chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, and three other current and former MCSO big shots,…
Round two of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s federal contempt trial began last Thursday. Yet revelations from the testimony of Arpaio’s chief deputy, Jerry Sheridan, and from portions of deposition transcripts made public already have been damning. Here are the 10 of the most eyebrow-raising: 10. According to Sheridan, the Maricopa County…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s absurd Seattle investigation cost taxpayers at least $250,000, improperly dipped into federal grant money, and nearly depleted the MCSO’s RICO fund. This, according to Arpaio’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, who spent yesterday on the stand in federal court, much of it being skewered by ACLU attorney Cecillia…
ACLU attorney Cecillia Wang played hammer to Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan’s nail in federal court Thursday, as Sheridan was the first to take the stand in the contempt trial of Sheridan, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and three current and former MCSO bigwigs. The multi-day hearing, with dates scheduled in September, October…
Shamelessness must be a requirement to work for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Just hours before the second round in Arpaio’s contempt trial was set to begin Thursday morning in federal court, his attorney John Masterson (one of several) submitted a motion to block “any inquiry during the continued contempt proceedings regarding the…
Never doubt for one moment — notwithstanding his staged Reagan-esque gaps in memory under oath and his on-the-stand avowals of delegating authority — Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s total control over the MCSO. Take the following example, borrowed from the transcript of MCSO Lieutenant Kim Seagraves’ recent deposition in the ongoing federal…
Recently released excerpts of depositions of Joe Arpaio’s ex-attorney, Tim Casey, and others in the sheriff’s ongoing contempt case point to possible perjury by Arpaio and his chief deputy, Jerry Sheridan, during their April testimony in federal court. The excerpts, made public as part of the court record, also confirm…
Next time you catch John Boorman’s classic 1972 film Deliverance, Phoenix lawyer Dennis Wilenchik may come to mind. Particularly during the notorious “squeal like a pig” scene, when a character played by Ned Beatty is raped by a Georgia redneck and made to crawl on all fours. Earlier this year, the pugnacious,…
The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced this evening that it had arrested 21 year-old Leslie Allen Merritt, Jr., alleging he was the man responsible for at least some of the recent shootings of vehicles along the I-10 in Phoenix. Speaking at a press conference this evening, flanked by U.S. Marshal…
Taxpayers pick up the tab for Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio’s attorney’s fees, court costs and settlements in civil suits. Political contributors bankroll his campaigns. He and his wife Ava are millionaires, and own a number of pricey properties in the Valley. His salary with Maricopa County is more than $100,000…
Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan could give Rob Zombie and M. Night Shyamalan a run for their money when it comes to the production of sheer horror. Save for the fact that what Zombie and Shyamalan create is mere fiction that’s finished after a couple of hours in…
Though online detractors claim they are more of a “Dolt Force,” the vigilante group calling itself “Bolt Force” is scoring international publicity from the freeway shootings in Phoenix that the Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating. In fact, when the group’s leader, Tony “Bolt” Rowley, is not getting stopped…
About 48 hours before his lifeless body was found hanging by the neck from a blue rope tied to a pool table at his home, ex-MCSO deputy Ramon “Charley” Armendariz told a group of friends and neighbors that he was a planning a press conference where he would “expose the…
So here’s a giant surprise, Pinal County Sheriff and unannounced candidate for U.S. Congress Paul Babeu is the “honorary chairman,” of a dark money, 501(c)4 non-profit that is pimping….yes, you guessed it, Paul Babeu. Babeu’s new Arizona Security and Prosperity Project’s website promises that the group will pursue “public advocacy for…
