How Mexican food put couple in Arpaio’s contempt case
Dale Grissom never expected his family to be caught up in a federal court case involving Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
But here they are, thanks to a craving for Mexican food from their favorite restaurant, Someburros, back in summer 2012.
The events of that day led to an important disclosure during civil contempt proceedings last month against Arpaio in U.S. District Court. Under questioning by Judge G. Murray Snow, Arpaio confirmed a probe into remarks allegedly made to the Grissoms by the judge’s wife at the restaurant.
The contempt hearings have focused on the defiance by Arpaio and others of Snow’s orders in an ongoing racial-profiling lawsuit.
Snow’s questioning of Arpaio left the man of many words nearly speechless and thrust the Grissoms into the middle of a high-stakes political and legal drama.
“It just blew up a couple of weeks ago — like kapow,” said Grissom, speaking publicly for the first time about the case from behind a screen door as the nightly news blared on TV in his south Phoenix home.
“We just thought, ‘Wow — what happened here? And we’ve been following it right along. We’re not trying to hide anything, we’re just telling the truth, and that’s the way it was, and that’s what she said, and hey, whatever happens, happens.”
The judge’s wife, Cheri Snow, declined comment when reached by phone Thursday.
About a month after their lunch-time encounter at Someburros, Snow presided over the start of a trial to weigh allegations that Arpaio’s office engaged in a pattern of discriminatory policing.
Dale said that he and his family sat at a table just a few feet from Cheri. He said Cheri began talking to Karen, confusing her with Karen’s sister, an acquaintance of Cheri’s from their childhood days in Yuma.
“She was talking to my wife and I don’t even know how it got brought up,” recalled Dale, 66. “And I heard them start talking about Sheriff Joe and how her husband wanted him out and didn’t want him back in office again, and that’s kind of where it went, then they talked about school.
“I didn’t pay attention. As soon as that came up, that stuck to me, and I thought, ‘How rude is that? Why is this guy, a federal judge, telling his wife he doesn’t want Sheriff Joe back in office — and why is she out telling people?’ ”
The Grissoms returned home and didn’t think much of Cheri’s remarks until May 2013, when they heard that her husband had ruled Arpaio and his deputies violated the constitutional rights of Hispanics by targeting them during raids and traffic stops.
Dale says he’s not a die-hard Arpaio fan or critic, saying, “There’s a lot of things where he kind of goes overboard, but I think he’s a good sheriff.”
But news of Snow’s decision upset his wife in light of Cheri’s alleged comments, Dale recalled. (Karen would not come to the front door to speak to The Arizona Republic.)
“It went on and on and on, and it just got to bothering her and she said, ‘I think they need to know,’ ” Dale remembered.
Three months later, in August 2013, Karen sent a Facebook message to Arpaio that described her encounter with Cheri. It said, in part, that “she told me that her husband hates u and will do anything to get u out of office. This has bothered me since last year when I saw her.”
Days later, a private investigator arrived at their home. Jerry Sheridan, Arpaio’s chief deputy, said Tim Casey, Arpaio’s former defense attorney on the racial-profiling case, hired the investigator to look into the veracity of the message.
Sheridan said the office was obligated to look into Karen’s note: “The sheriff and I felt that we should have our lawyer look into the comment in the event that it was made, and it was credible, because it went to the judge’s state of mind,” Sheridan said in an interview.
Dale says he never learned what happened after their interviews, “But I don’t believe the investigator went to investigate Snow’s wife.”
When asked that question, Sheridan said Casey told him and Arpaio there wasn’t enough evidence to take the tip any further. “And it sat in my desk drawer for a year and a half, until it came out in court when the sheriff was on the stand,” Sheridan said. “We had no intention to do anything with it because we were told it would be unethical for us to make a complaint on a third-party hearsay.” Dale stands by his story. “I would not go as far to lie for Sheriff Joe,” he said. “I mean, I like the guy, but I wouldn’t go as far and say ... this. I wouldn’t do that. You just don’t do that.
Reach the reporter at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com or
602-444-4712. Follow on Twitter @yvonnewingett