Democratic-turned-Independent state Representative Daniel Patterson released his 19-page response to the investigation done on behalf of the House Ethics Committee that was just about full to the brim with allegations against the legislator.Patterson rejected most of the accusations point-by-point in his response, while kind of rejecting the rest of the…
Today’s written ruling by the three-person panel that calls for the disbarment of former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his “special assistant” Lisa Aubuchon should be mandatory reading, and not just for lawyers. It is profound in fact and happens to be beautifully written. One example of what we’re…
Barbara Mundell, the now-retired Maricopa Superior Court Judge targeted in an unethical investigation by county lawmen, received $500,000 from the county to settle a lawsuit.Susan Schuerman, the executive assistant for Supervisor Don Stapley, also received a $500,000 settlement, county officials confirm.The county’s spokeswoman, Cari Gerchick, says that Mary Rose Wilcox…
Despite earlier reports from the Tempe Police Department that the men involved in yesterday morning’s shooting weren’t students at the nearby Arizona State University, it turns out the alleged shooter actually is.Kyle Levitt, the 25-year-old Tempe resident who police say fatally shot 20-year-old Gabriel Batten, is an undergraduate student at…
Several former and current Maricopa County officials received settlements in their lawsuits against Maricopa County last night — but the county isn’t giving up the amounts. No news release for this one — and it’s not hard to understand why. The issue of payoffs is sensitive because public money will fund…
Andrew Thomas, former Maricopa County Attorney, was disbarred this morning by the three-member disciplinary panel of the Arizona State Supreme Court. So was his former deputy, Lisa Aubuchon. Former Deputy County Attorney Rachel Alexander’s law license was suspended for six months and one day. The disciplinary panel dismissed a few…
Andrew Thomas, former Maricopa County Attorney, violated several ethical rules, a state Supreme Court panel has found. William O’Neil, State Disciplinary Judge, now is reading the summary of the panel’s conclusions. Some charges are getting upheld, others are being dismissed. Thomas and his former deputy, Lisa Aubuchon, face disbarment. This is looking bad for…
Also read: Tempe PD: Man Shot, Killed After Argument Over Playing Loud Music at Apartment PoolTempe police have arrested a 25-year-old man on a murder charge in the shooting death of a man at an apartment complex pool yesterday.Police say Tempe resident Kyle Levitt shot 20-year-old Gabriel Batten after an…
Mary Rose Wilcox, Maricopa County Supervisor, settled with county in her lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.UPDATE: The county has not yet settled with Wilcox, spokeswoman Cari Gerchick reports. See our blog post about the other settlements that occurred last night.Back to original post, now rendered somewhat moot:Wilcox just walked in…
Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is about to learn whether or not he has an Arizona law license. Thomas and his former deputies, Lisa Aubuchon and Rachel Alexander are facing punishment on a range of alleged ethical violations, which you can read about in previous New Times coverage. We’re…
Yesterday, we brought you the video of Yavapai College left fielder Austin O’Such heading full-speed over to a scuffle between his team and Scottsdale Community College’s squad, and making a pit stop to blindside SCC’s Jake Bamrick, who’s hanging out on second base watching the action. The video from the…
Congratulations to the New Times reader known as Eleanor Holguin, you’ve won this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.On Friday, we asked readers to write the caption for the above photo of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio rounding up the “birther” brigade at church for another explanation of…
Back in August 2005, with Andrew Peyton Thomas then on the cusp of election as Maricopa County Attorney, we profiled him in a not-so-kind piece entitled “Dangerous Mind.” The tag beneath the headline read, “Imagine Joe Arpaio as a dewy intellectual, and you’ve got County Attorney wanna-be Andy Thomas.” Here…
Two illegal immigrants were shot and killed last night near Eloy after being “ambushed” by an unknown number of people in camouflage getup, police say.According to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the call came into the Eloy Police Department around 10:30 p.m. yesterday about shots being fired at an “illegal…
Update: Kyle Levitt Arrested in Murder of man Shot at Tempe Apartment Complex PoolA 20-year-old man was shot and killed this morning after an argument over loud music at a pool inside a Tempe apartment complex, police say.Two people are currently being held for questioning in the shooting death.Tempe Police…
Last week, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery shipped off a letter to the Justice Department, demanding the department’s evidence of botched sex crimes by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.Montgomery wrote that withholding that evidence “may needlessly jeopardize prosecutions,” and also asked for any evidence of racial profiling by the MCSO.The…
Anyone who knows award-winning Phoenix journalist Valeria Fernandez knows that for four years now she and her collaborator, filmmaker Dan DeVivo, have been working on a documentary about Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s reign of terror and error in Maricopa County, a film ultimately titled Two Americans.Fernandez and DeVivo’s film is finally…
The video above is probably the only community-college baseball highlight that’s going to be news outside the state of Arizona this year.That’s Yavapai College left fielder Austin O’Such that’s heading full-speed over to a scuffle between his team and Scottsdale Community College’s squad, and makes a pit stop to blindside…
The Phoenix Suns won one and lost one this weekend, with a six-point loss to the Denver Nuggets in Colorado on Friday, and a 20-point whooping of the Kobe Bryant-less Los Angeles Lakers in the desert Saturday night.Friday’s game was a gradual loss for the Suns after finishing the first…
The Arizona Diamondbacks got a roaring start to the new baseball season this past weekend as they swept the San Francisco Giants right out of Chase Field in their opening series. The D-Backs beat their Bay Area rivals 5-4 on Friday night, followed by another 5-4 win on Saturday afternoon,…
On Friday, we asked readers to write the caption for the above photo of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio rounding up the “birther” brigade at church for another explanation of why he believes President Obama is from Africa.That expedition took the sheriff’s “Cold Case Posse” to a church in Sun…
Two weeks ago, I reported on a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow in the ACLU’s big racial-profiling lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Melendres v. Arpaio. During that hearing, Snow scheduled the seven-day trial to begin on July 19.After the hearing, outside the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S…
