No mea culpa in Maricopa

Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer’s Paperwork

In a brazen act of theft of attorney work product and executive branch intrusion on attorney privilege, for which the Court only sought an apology, the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona said, “My officer was doing his job, and I will not stand by and allow him to be thrown to the wolves by the courts because they feel pressure from the media on this situation.”

There it all is, for you to see on video, at the link. No matter what you think about defending "criminals", whether actually found guilty (this seems to be a penalty phase hearing) or merely charged, unless we choose to throw out our Constitution, this is plainly unacceptable conduct.

The comments to that ABA Journal blog post must be read. Unusual for the ABA blog, they are in unanimous disapproval of the Deputy's conduct.


AS THIS STORY CONTINUES ...

A Phoenix-area courtroom officer who inexplicably took paperwork from a defense lawyer's files mid-hearing in October has reported to jail rather than apologize.

And then, Nearly 20 Court Deputies Call in Sick in Wake of Fellow Officer’s Jailing

On Wednesday, the morning after a sheriff's detention officer reported to jail to serve a contempt of court sentence, 20 of his colleagues called in sick for work at the Maricopa County Superior Court Buildings in Phoenix.

Those same buildings were evacuated for three hours Wednesday morning when a bomb threat was called in targeting public defenders, the Arizona Republic reported.

Arpaio said neither the absentee rate nor the bomb threat were related to Stoddard's sentence, but said he does "have a political prisoner in jail who happens to be my detention officer."