The Center for Responsive Politics recently released its list of the net worth of every member of Congress, and we’ve learned a few things about Arizona’s Congressional delegation.For starters, Arizona’s 10-member delegation is worth a collective $60,806,459, with fagala-phobic Congressman Trent Franks’ $33,925,002 making up more than half of the…
By now, most of you have seen the video of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers using a Taser on Marty Atencio, an assault suspect who died after getting zapped while already in jail (see our story on Atencio’s death here).However, some of you might have missed it — you…
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake is allowing Chandler police officer Thomas Lovejoy’s lawsuit alleging rights violations to move forward in the latest blow to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.Lovejoy’s the over-worked officer who left his K-9 partner, Bandit, to die in a hot patrol car on August 11, 2007 and…
Video of the Atencio tragedy, taken by videographer Dennis Gilman from hours of MCSO footage. Please note: There is no sound. Last week, Marty Atencio’s brother Mike told me that he and his family believe Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s detention officers “murdered” his brother, leaving the 44 year-old Army vet dead…
U.S. District G. Murray Snow ruled today that any Hispanic stopped by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies since January 1, 2007 — or will be stopped in the future — can sue the Sheriff’s Office in a class-action lawsuit. The ruling in the Melendres racial-profiling case also enjoins the Maricopa County…
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow set up Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a knockout in his latest ruling on a racial-profiling lawsuit.Snow’s ruling (see below) in the Melendres Vs. Arpaio case eviscerates the Sheriff’s Office for its record-shredding tactics, noting that deputies intentionally destroyed records that revealed their…
The long goodbye finally ended last night up in Nevada, as Dennis Erickson coached his final game at Arizona State, a crushing 56-24 loss to a far-superior Boise State Team in the Las Vegas Bowl. ASU finished 6-7 after such a promising start to a season that was supposed to…
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow today criticized the policies of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in a lawsuit alleging racial profiling by deputies, and says he’ll make a decision in one or two days.Overall, this morning’s hearing in the Ortega Melendres vs. MCSO lawsuit seemed to go well for…
An Arizona State University student who jumped off the Arizona Republic building in downtown Phoenix last night in an apparent suicide attempt was an intern at the newspaper, sources tell New Times.The student lept from the roof of the Republic’s parking garage at Second and Taylor streets near the Sheraton hotel…
Phoenix Sergeant Steve Martos confirms to New Times that the deaths of two people found in a Phoenix home last night is suspected to be a case of murder/suicide.Martos says it appears Dylan Bell fatally shot 24-year-old Marilyn Guerra before turning the gun on himself.When the bodies were found, Guerra’s…
Bryan Stewart, a.k.a. “Rick Valentini,” was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the presumed murder of his ex-girlfriend Jamie Laiaddee.Laiddee’s body was never found, but while Stewart was in police custody, he was heard telling other inmates that he…
A Phoenix woman’s 10-month-old baby was found crying in a Phoenix home last night as she sat next to the bodies of her murdered mother and her mother’s boyfriend.The victims have been identified as 24-year-old Marilyn Guerra and Dylan Bell, who’s in his mid-20s.Phoenix police say officers responded to a…
Does the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office have the right to detain you if you seem to be violating one element of a criminal statute?The office’s lawyer, Tim Casey, is arguing with U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow over that question right now in this morning’s hearing in the Melendres vs. MCSO…
According to Troy Allen Puetz, his ex-girlfriend — who currently has an order of protection against him — is into some real “kinky shit.”She’s not kinky enough to ask him to stand outside her window and videotape her having sex with another man, though — which is what police say…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced yesterday that no criminal charges will be filed against any of the more than two dozen state legislators who accepted questionable gifts from the scandal-plagued Fiesta Bowl organization while it was headed by former CEO John Junker.The gist of Montgomery’s explanation as to why…
In between your 15th tamale and sixth spiked cup of ponche, you’re going to have to buy regalos for Christmas or whatever pinche holiday you celebrate. Okay, you don’t have to, but you should, to support all those great indie businesses suffering during this Great Recession. Behold, then, your ¡Ask…
Dr. Mark Salerno steps to a podium, gripping a tattered black shoe. It is a crisp and bright early December morning in Peoria, on 99th Avenue south of Grand Avenue. About 40 people are seated under a tent at the rear of a psychiatric crisis center operated by the nonprofit…
Jack MacIntyre is paid more than $120,000 a year to justify and rationalize the ill deeds for which his boss, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, ultimately is culpable. These include the wrongful deaths that take place regularly in Arpaio’s jails, the persecution of Arpaio’s enemies by his underlings, the Sheriff’s Office’s rampant…
The federal government just approved the destruction of 2,000 acres of Sonoran Desert land in the southwest Valley for a new solar plant, but conservationists aren’t complaining.This time, anyway.Thomas Hulen, executive director of Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument, was one of seven environmentalists who signed a November 21…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office tells New Times that it plans to release surveillance video of Ernest “Marty” Atencio getting tased while being booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail some time in the next 48 hours.Atencio died yesterday afternoon after spending several days on life support at St. Joseph’s Hospital…
It’s official: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers no longer have the authority to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in MCSO jails — as was announced during an overly dramatic badge-piling ceremony at the sheriff’s training facility this afternoon.That’s right, rather than simply collecting the detention officers’ ICE…
Living in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County is like living in a medieval version of the movie Groundhog Day, where each morning one awakens with further reminders that we do not live in the civilized world.Two years ago, I first told you about Miriam Mendiola-Martinez, whose son Angel was born…
