The continuation of the contempt hearing for Adam Stoddard, Maricopa County’s finest, was held yesterday before Judge Gary Donahoe, although much of it happened without prying eyes after he closed the courtroom at the insistence of Tom Liddy, with the County Attorney’s office.
To my great disappointment, Nick Martin was unable to attend yesterday’s hearing, leaving us with only the Arizona Republic version of events. Given its anemic coverage of the last hearing date, it’s a rather sorry substitute.
“Going to,” “steal” and “money.”
Those four words, grouped in the same sentence, prompted a Maricopa County sheriff’s detention officer to remove documents from a defense attorney’s file last month, according to court testimony Thursday.
Officer Adam Stoddard testified that a handful of factors contributed to his decision to position himself behind the defendant, Antonio Solis Lozano, during Lozano’s Oct. 19 sentencing hearing. And while Stoddard was there, his eyes “glazed over” a document with the four words that caught his attention.
And why did Stoddard mosey up behind the defense attorney so that he might happen to “glaze over” the open papers on the table?
Stoddard said the fact that Lozano had numerous papers that court security had not searched concerned him. People in the back of the courtroom who were there to see Lozano also made Stoddard suspicious, according to his testimony.
And sun was in his eyes, and there was a hole in his racket. So aside from the discrepancies between the video and this testimony, not to mention that the file he was “glazing over” was the attorney’s and not the defendants, and the lack of any logical connection between people being in a courtroom, where they are entitled to be unless Donahoe’s on the bench, and papers on table, Stoddard’s doing a bang up job on his second try to come up with an explanation.
The problem posed is that Stoddard, after being widely ridiculed for his ridiculous attempt to justify his wholly improper invasion into the defense lawyer Joanne Cuccia’s file, had a few days with the county lawyers to come up with a better story. Despite this gift, he still can’t offer any rationale for his conduct.
It would seem impossible for Judge Gary Donahoe to be unaware of the fact that his decision will be the subject of intense interest and scrutiny across the country. This is not just a little Maricopa thing.
The problem posed is that Stoddard, after being widely ridiculed for his ridiculous attempt to justify his wholly improper invasion into the defense lawyer Joanne Cuccia’s file, had a few days with the county lawyers to come up with a better story. Despite this gift, he still can’t offer any rationale for his conduct.
It would seem impossible for Judge Gary Donahoe to be unaware of the fact that his decision will be the subject of intense interest and scrutiny across the country. This is not just a little Maricopa thing.
Stoddard’s decision to remove the documents from the file of Joanne Cuccia, Lozano’s former attorney, led to an outcry from defense attorneys, an avalanche of media attention once video footage of Stoddard’s move was released, and a packed house in Donahoe’s courtroom Thursday.No matter how tightly the judge seals the courthouse doors, this one won’t be easily swept under the carpet. But lest you think that this suggests that the people of Phoenix might be inclined to lay siege to the courthouse with torches and pitchforks, take a hard look at the comments to the AR article. There seems to be no need to connect up the comments to anything remotely resembling fact, or even rational inference. It would be funny, but for the fact that this appears to the predominant sense of the community.
Clearer still is the fact that 64% of registered voters in Arizona give Sheriff Joe Arpaio a positive job performance rating. He may be an outrageous, but he’s theirs and they love him. That’s because the good people of Arizona hate them criminals and Mexicans, though not necessarily in that order.
I’m telling you, there’s something in the water.
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I guarantee 3 things.
1. Nothing will happen to Stoddard.
2. This issue will be forgotten.
3. It WILL happen in Maricopa again.
I confirm 3 things.
1. The Constitution is ignored in AZ.
2. The courts are unbalanced in AZ.
3. The justice system in AZ is corrupt.
I observe 3 things.
1. The problems start with Joe Arpaio.
2. The county lives in a state of fear.
3. Corruption has permeated AZ.
I hope 3 things.
1. The FBI will finally come down in AZ.
2. The new AG will have the nuts to act.
3. Arpaio Et.Al. will do the perp walk.
I have lost all faith in the FBI or main Justice to do anything about Arpaio. The current Arizona Attorney General, Terry Goddard has utterly underwhelmed me with his willingness or ability to check Arpaio’s mad grab for power. I will not be donating this time when he comes looking for money in his upcoming gubernatorial bid.
I’m not sure which blogger coined the term “Marikafka County,” but he will never be able to pay for a martini if I am in the bar.
That would be Radley Balko. If you provide a list of bars you’re in, I will make sure he gets it.
There really isn’t too much to comment on in this matter. You might say though that the people of Phoenix deserve what they get from these corrupt judicial officers. After all they voted for them and in any democracy you get the government you deserve.
Okay Archie Bunker 1954, I’ll fall into your logic trap.
[Ed. Note: Balance deleted. No Hitler references allowed here.]