Independent paper’s founders awarded $3.75 million over trumped-up arrests by Joe Arpaio

[dinar_stud]

Independent paper’s founders awarded $3.75 million over trumped-up arrests by Joe Arpaio

 

 

The founders of the independent publication Phoenix New Times won a $3.75 million settlement from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona on Friday, ending years of litigation after were arrested by Sheriff Joe Arpaio under false pretenses.

 

 

 

New Times reported on Friday that the dispute between Arpaio, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas and founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin dates back to 2004, when the newspaper published Arpaio’s home address, which was publicly available, as part of an investigation into his acquisition of six commercial real estate properties in transactions that were not made public.

 

 

“Unlike most of Arpaio’s victims, we had the financial wherewithal to defend ourselves in court, and we were able to speak through the newspaper,” Lacey and Larkin said in a statement. “But the vulnerable and impoverished victims of Arpaio’s ongoing abusive practices have neither the money nor the voice to fight back.”

 

Though Arpaio asked that the paper be charged, arguing that the information presented a “timely threat,” two separate County Attorney’s offices declined, since at least 10 months had elapsed between the article’s publication and his request. But a special prosecutor appointed by Thomas issued subpoenas in 2007 asking forNew Times’ sources and readers for all of its stories related to Arpaio.

 

 

In response, Lacey and Larkin wrote an Oct. 18, 2007 story detailing authorities’ actions. The night the story was published, they were arrested on charges of violating the secrecy of a grand jury. The subpoenas were later declared invalid because they were obtained without the approval of any grand jury, nor Superior Court Judge Baca, who was in charge of convening them.

 

 

The Arizona Republic reported that Maricopa County has been forced to pay nearly $17 million in settlements related to cases of political attacks by Arpaio and Thomas.

 

 

 

 

 

[George Hayduke]

Thank you for bringing an example of yellow journalism at it's best.  DId you editorialize the original article by MIchelle Ye Hee and Michael Kiefer or merely repost what someone else wrote without your having actually read the article?

 

Where did you get the title for your post of the AZ article anyway?  I ask because It certainly is not the title of the AZ article as originally printed.

 

Here is the entire AZ article un-redacted and un-editorialized for those who appreciate truth and clarity.

 

Maricopa County supervisors settle lawsuits filed by ‘New Times’ founders, Stapley

 

 

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Michael KieferThe Republic | azcentral.comFri Dec 20, 2013 4:08 PM

The last two lawsuits filed by political targets of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas were settled by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Friday, ending a long bout of litigation that has cost the county millions of dollars over the past few years.

Supervisors voted to settle for $3.75 million a federal lawsuit filed against the county by Phoenix New Times founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin. The news executives were arrested in 2007 after publishing details of a rogue prosecutor’s misdeeds.

Later Friday, supervisors also voted to settle for $3.5 million a federal lawsuit filed by former County Supervisor Don Stapley, who was arrested during the so-called war on political corruption waged by Thomas, Arpaio and their deputies.

The two settlements bring to at least $17 million the final taxpayer cost of lawsuits relating to Arpaio’s and Thomas’ politically-motivated legal attacks. That tab is likely to grow, due to a separate settlement that was approved last year but is currently under appeal.

“What brought us here today is the shameful, expensive, almost incomprehensible story of Andrew Thomas’ abuse of power,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Andy Kunasek said before the vote.

Lacey applauded the decision, saying, “This judgment proves there’s a God in heaven, but I think that God might be a trial lawyer.”

Arpaio said he would not criticize the Board of Supervisors for making what amounted to a business decision to settle the cases.

Stapley’s was the last of 10 lawsuits filed against Arpaio, Thomas and their deputies, by judges, county supervisors and other county officials.

Earlier this month, Stapley’s case seemed to be headed to a jury trial in January, with a strong statement of support for Stapley from the federal judge handling the case.

“I still think it’s a good deal for the family (of Stapley), but I think we would have gotten more out of a jury,” said Michael Manning, Stapley’s attorney.

Manning also represented Lacey and Larkin, and several of the other plaintiffs who sued the county.

The size of Stapley’s settlement is partially due to his out-of-pocket attorney fees, totaling more than $1.6 million, Manning said.

Supervisor Steve Chucri said he would’ve preferred taking the case to trial.

“As someone who believes in process and transparency,” he said, “my preference in this case was to have it go to trial and decided by Maricopa County residents ... not an insurance actuary and abacus.”

But County Manager Tom Manos said the county incurred more costs to litigate the Stapley case than in other similar lawsuits because it was headed to trial mid-January. Depositions were finished, and the county paid five external law firms to represent each of the five defendants in Stapley’s case.

The county’s legal costs and the settlement cost in the Stapley case were projected to exceed the $5 million deductible for an external insurance carrier, Manos said. Since the county’s total costs in settlements and litigating the case would exceed the deductible, the insurance company had discretion to settle the case, he said. The insurance carrier opted to settle rather than pay a jury verdict, Manos said.

Not settling the case could have jeopardized the county’s contract with future insurance carriers, Manos said.

The county has insurance carriers that cover legal claims that exceed the $5 million limit placed on payouts from its self-insured risk trust fund.

“If there’s any good news today, it’s that we’re getting just about the last two cases behind us,” Manos said. “This has been a long and painful process and journey for the county.”

The New Times case was settled because that was the best business decision for the county, Manos said.

“I look at all the things we could do in the county with the amount of money we’re spending today, and I’m disappointed that’s how I have to use the taxpayers’ money,” Manos said.

Both settlements approved by the Board of Supervisors on Thursday stem from arrests by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office while working in conjunction with Thomas. The New Times lawsuit preceded the political-corruption investigations.

The courts determined that Thomas had prosecutorial immunity since he had turned the case over to a special prosecutor, Dennis Wilenchik. Wilenchik and Arpaio were the defendants in the New Times lawsuit.

Thomas and his former deputy Lisa Aubuchon were disbarred in 2012 for ethical violations over the course of the political-corruption campaign. Another former deputy county attorney, Rachel Alexander, was suspended from practice. And Arpaio’s former chief deputy, David Hendershott, was fired.

The $17 million total does not include tangential costs the county incurred defending itself, elected officials and other employees against lawsuits, investigations and legal claims related to the actions of Thomas, Arpaio, Aubuchon, Alexander and Hendershott. An Arizona Republic analysis found those additional costs added up to at least $24.9 million as of April 2012.

New Times lawsuit

Lacey and Larkin founded Phoenix New Times and built it into a chain of 13 alternative newspapers that included The Village Voice, which they sold in September 2012.

On October 18, 2007, Lacey and Larkin were arrested for revealing details of a grand jury matter by publishing a story in Phoenix New Times about ongoing charges and legal disputes with the Maricopa County Attorney’s and Sheriff’s offices.

The initial dispute was over publishing the home address of Arpaio online, which is against the law. The stories, which came out in 2004 and 2005, alleged that Arpaio was using the statute to hide his real estate assets.

Then, in 2007, while ostensibly in the midst of secret grand jury proceedings, a special prosecutor appointed by Thomas filed an over-reaching subpoena against the newspaper, asking that they reveal the internet identities of anyone who read the paper online, including information about what other sites they had visited before and after reading the New Times. An appointed independent prosecutor also attempted to set up an improper private meeting with the judge overseeing the case.

Lacey and Larkin published a story about the subpoena and the attempted meeting with the judge on October 18, 2007. That evening, plain clothes sheriff’s deputies came to their houses, handcuffed them, put them in dark SUV’s with tinted windows — of which at least one bore Mexican license plates — and drove them to jail.

The public outcry was immediate, and an embarrassed Thomas dropped the charges five days later.

Lacey and Larkin sued, and initially a U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix ruled that Thomas and Arpaio enjoyed absolute immunity from lawsuits because of their law enforcement status. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, in rulings in 2011 and 2012, restored the lawsuits with regard to Arpaio and Maricopa County.

Stapley lawsuit

Stapley was indicted in November 2008 on 118 criminal counts stemming from omissions on his annual financial-disclosure forms as county supervisor. But the case fell apart when his defense attorneys realized that Maricopa County had never formalized disclosure rules.

Those charges were dismissed in August 2009. A month later, the Sheriff's Office arrested Stapley without a warrant, alleging fraudulent schemes, perjury and theft, among other charges, based on allegations he committed mortgage, loan and campaign account fraud. He was later indicted on some of the second set of charges.

Before the year was over, Thomas had filed criminal charges against Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, alleging conflict of interest, and against former Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe, accusing him of bribery related to construction of a court tower in downtown Phoenix. Thomas and Arpaio also filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against several judges, county officials and county supervisors.

The cases began unraveling when a Superior Court judge threw out the Wilcox charges in February 2010 and accused Thomas of retaliation for political reasons. All of the cases were subsequently dismissed.

Thomas asked Gila County Attorney Daisy Flores to review the charges against Stapley. She concluded there was “sufficient evidence to prove that Stapley committed seven separate felony offenses of false swearing,” but the investigation had been so mismanaged that it would be impossible to take to court.

Earlier settlements

All of the other targets of the government-corruption crusade settled out of court. They are retired Superior Court judges Donahoe, Kenneth Fields, Barbara Mundell and Anna Baca; former county technology director Stephen Wetzel; county budget director and deputy county manager Sandi Wilson; Stapley’s executive assistant, Susan Schuerman; and Stapley business associate Conley Wolfswinkel.

Wilcox reached a settlement with the county for $975,000, which has been contested by the county and is under appeal.

County Board Chairman Kunasek in January 2013 settled his notice of claim against the county for $123,110 in attorneys’ fees and defense costs relating to the same failed corruption probes by Arpaio and Thomas.

In March 2013, former County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling settled for $250,000 her lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors and Arpaio, accusing them of malicious prosecution after a three-year legal battle that included several civil suits over alleged mismanagement, as well as criminal charges including theft, procurement fraud and misuse of public funds. Thomas was not involved in those suits.

Dowling was cleared of felony criminal charges and settled the civil lawsuits. She entered a plea agreement and in 2008 was sentenced to four months of probation for a misdemeanor.