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Tag: Maricopa County

  • Joe Arpaio Admonished in Court Over Training Videos

    Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, along with his top deputy, Jerry Sheridan, appeared in court before U.S. District Judge Murray Snow, who was not too pleased with a video of the sheriff training his deputies.

    “I intend to have my order followed,” Reuters reported the judge said in court. Snow had issued the order for the sheriff’s office to stop racial profiling. He also required video tapes of all training sessions and traffic stops. The New York times reported the video showed Sheridan telling the deputies the court order was “ludicrous this crap”. Arpaio followed up the statements on the video adding, “What the chief deputy said is what I’ve been saying. We don’t racially profile, I don’t care what everybody says.”

    In court, Sheridan explained the comment came from a frustration of media coverage surrounding the case. However, Sheridan was quick to recant his statements on the video. “I heard every word you said loud and clear,” he said to the judge, according to the Associated Press.

    “Whether or not the sheriff likes it, there is a distinction in immigration law that was not understood by the population and, with all due respect to you, it is not understood by the sheriff, which is that it is not a criminal violation to be in this country without authorization,” the New York Times reported Snow told the court.

    The director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, Cecillia Wang, told Reuters, “The proof will be in the pudding as to whether Sheridan, the sheriff and the rest of the MCSO are actually serious about the court order. The judge has given them a chance to do just that – and one chance only.”

    Any anger against court order has not shown its face on the sheriff’s Twitter account. Instead, one can find pictures of a community meeting:


    And playful sparing with George Lopez:

    Image via Univision Noticias, YouTube

  • Debra Milke: Free Until Retrial In Son’s Murder

    Debra Milke, 49, walked out of Arizona prison and off death row today, at least for the mean time. Milke was convicted over 20 years ago for the 1989 murder of her four-year-old son, Christopher. She will be retried on 30 September when prosecutors will attempt to again place her on death row.

    A $250,000 bond was posted after a Thursday ruling and Milke was escorted from Lower Buckeye Jail at about 3pm Friday. Her movements will be monitored and restricted and she will reside in a home purchased for her by supporters.

    Milke’s road to a retrial was not short. A 2009 appeals court overturned her conviction, finding that her confession was coerced. This confession was all that tied Milke directly to the murders. Five months ago, a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge, Rosa Mroz, overturned Milke’s sentence when she ruled that evidence of misconduct by the lead detective on the case was not disclosed by prosecutors. Milke’s lawyers have since accused the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office of political motivations for pursuing the case, requesting they be disqualified; Judge Mroz denied that request.

    The detective at the center of the controversy, now retired Phoenix Police Detective Armando Saldate Jr., has been involved in eight cases of confessions or indictments thrown out by judges, four for lying under oath and four for violation of suspect’s constitutional rights. Saldate testified at Milke’s original trial that she confessed in a closed interrogation room but Saldate’s honesty was called into question during the appeals.

    For Milke’s part, she has maintained that she is innocent of her son’s killing and denies that she confessed. The original jury that convicted her resolved that she conspired with two men, former roommate James Styers, and Roger Scott—both still on death row—to kill the boy in the desert by shooting him in the back of the head. They had allegedly lured him out by dressing him in his favorite outfit and promising him a mall visit with Santa Claus with the purpose of collecting insurance money; Milke was an insurance company clerk when Christopher was murdered.

    Milke’s ex-husband, Arizona Milke, spoke to the press about her release. “She’s a sociopath, plain and simple,” he said. He expressed the pain he feels and promises to be in court every day come Milke’s retrial as he was in the original trial, excepting one day. Arizona Milke is afraid, however, that she will be acquitted in a retrial. He asked Judge Mroz to deny the bond, and professed that both he and Milke are alcoholics.

    Maricopa County has received its share of attention from the press, most recently for a racial profiling case against controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

    [Video and Image via YouTube.]