Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Migrant-targeting sheriff found guilty of contempt

- JACQUES BILLEAUD

PHOENIX — Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio was convicted of a criminal charge Monday for refusing to stop traffic patrols that targeted people in the country illegally, marking a final rebuke for a politician who once drew strong popularity from such crackdowns but was ultimately booted from office as voters became frustrated over his headline-grabbing tactics and deepening legal troubles.

The federal judge’s verdict represents a victory for critics who voiced anger over Arpaio’s unusual efforts to get tough on crime, including jailing inmates in tents during triple-digit heat, forcing them to wear pink underwear and making hundreds of arrests in crackdowns that divided families. Arpaio is vowing to appeal.

Arpaio, who spent 24 years as the sheriff of metro Phoenix, skirted two earlier criminal investigat­ions of his office. But he wasn’t able to avoid legal problems when he prolonged his signature immigratio­n patrols for nearly a year and a half after a different judge ordered him to stop. That judge later ruled the patrols racially profiled Hispanics.

The lawman who made defiance a hallmark of his tenure was found guilty of misdemeano­r contempt of court for ignoring the 2011 court order to stop the patrols. The 85-year-old faces up to six months in jail, though attorneys who have followed the case doubt someone his age would be incarcerat­ed. He will be sentenced Oct. 5.

Critics hoped Arpaio’s eight-day trial in federal court in Phoenix would bring a long-awaited comeuppanc­e for the six-term lawman.

Prosecutor­s say Arpaio violated the order so he could promote his immigratio­n enforcemen­t efforts in an effort to boost his 2012 re-election campaign and even bragged about his continued crackdowns.

He had acknowledg­ed prolonging his patrols but insisted it was not intentiona­l. He also blamed one of his former attorneys in the profiling case for not properly explaining the importance of the court order.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton rejected all Arpaio’s key arguments, saying it was clear he knew of the order but still chose to continue the patrols.

“Not only did defendant abdicate responsibi­lity, he announced to the world and to his subordinat­es that he was going to continue business as usual no matter who said otherwise,” Bolton wrote, citing TV interviews and press releases in which Arpaio said his agency was still detaining people who were in the country illegally.

She said an attorney had clearly informed him of the order, and a top aide also read a portion of it aloud to Arpaio during a staff meeting.

Arpaio’s lawyers said they will appeal the verdict, contending their client’s legal fate should have been decided by a jury, not a judge. They also said Bolton violated Arpaio’s rights by not reading the decision in court.

“Her verdict is contrary to what every single witness testified in the case,” his lawyers said in a statement. “Arpaio believes that a jury would have found in his favor, and that it will.”

His defense focused on what his attorneys said were weaknesses in the court order that failed to acknowledg­e times when deputies would detain aliens and later hand them over to federal authoritie­s.

Unlike other local police leaders who left immigratio­n enforcemen­t to U.S. authoritie­s, Arpaio made hundreds of arrests in traffic patrols that sought out aliens and business raids in which his officers targeted people in the country illegally who used fraudulent IDs to get jobs.

The efforts are similar to local immigratio­n enforcemen­t that President Donald Trump has advocated. To build his highly touted deportatio­n force, Trump is reviving a long-standing program that deputizes local officers to enforce federal immigratio­n law.

Arpaio’s immigratio­n powers were eventually stripped away by the courts and federal government.

The contempt-of-court case marked the first time federal authoritie­s had prosecuted Arpaio on a criminal charge, though his office had been the subject of past investigat­ions.

Federal authoritie­s had looked into Arpaio’s misspendin­g of $100 million in jail funds and his criminal investigat­ions of political enemies. Neither investigat­ion led to prosecutio­n of the sheriff or his employees.

Arpaio’s criminal charges are believed to have contribute­d heavily to his defeat in November to little-known retired Phoenix police Sgt. Paul Penzone.

Arpaio was ousted in the same election that sent Trump to the White House. Trump used some of the same immigratio­n rhetoric that helped make Arpaio a national figure in the debate over the U.S.-Mexico border.

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