Politics

Arizona Sheriff Faces Contempt Hearing in Profiling Case

Published

10 years ago

April 21, 2015

In this Jan. 9, 2013 file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks with the media in Phoenix. Arpaio begins a four-day hearing Tuesday, April 21, that could bring him fines, damage his credibility and make him politically vulnerable for his acknowledged violations of a judge’s orders in a racial profiling case. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin,File)

JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The sheriff for metro Phoenix begins a four-day hearing Tuesday that could bring him fines, damage his credibility and make him politically vulnerable for his acknowledged violations of a judge’s orders in a racial profiling case.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow will decide whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and four aides should be held in contempt for violating an order barring the sheriff’s signature immigration patrols. Rank-and-file officers weren’t told about the injunction, leaving them to violate it for about 18 months.

The normally defiant Arpaio has acknowledged disobeying the order from the judge that found his deputies racially profiled Latinos. He also has accepted responsibility for his agency’s failure to turn over traffic-stop videos in the profiling case and bungling a plan to gather such recordings from deputies once some videos were discovered.

The hearing marks the boldest attempt to hold Arpaio personally responsible for his actions. The sheriff, who denies his office racially profiled Latinos, is among the nearly two dozen people on the witness list, but it’s unclear when he will be called testify.

Arpaio proposed offering a public apology and making a donation to a civil rights organization from his own pocket. The judge has said the $100,000 donation was an adequate personal financial penalty but rejected requests to call off the hearing because it didn’t resolve the contempt case.

It’s unclear whether Arpaio’s legal troubles are signaling an end to his 22-year political career. His political strength has been gradually declining over the past four election cycles, but his base of devoted supporters and impressive fundraising help him pull out wins.

Arpaio, through a spokeswoman, declined a request from The Associated Press to comment on the upcoming hearings.

“This is a man who has flouted the law so notoriously over 20 years, and yet he appears to be unscathed, although we, taxpayers, have paid a price for it,” said Michael Manning, an attorney who has won more than $20 million in damages in lawsuits over deaths at Arpaio’s jails. Manning isn’t involved in the contempt case.

State Sen. John Kavanagh, a friend and supporter of Arpaio, questioned whether the contempt hearings would make Arpaio politically vulnerable.

“I am disappointed that one of the few law enforcement officials who went after illegal immigrants is being penalized for it,” Kavanagh said.

Snow had said he intends on later launching a criminal contempt case that could expose the sheriff to jail time.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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3 days ago

June 7, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

1 week ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.