San Francisco Chronicle

Controvers­ial sheriff pardoned

- By Eric Tucker and Jacques Billeaud Eric Tucker and Jacques Billeaud are Associated Press writers.

WASHINGTON — President Trump spared his ally former Sheriff Joe Arpaio a possible jail sentence on Friday by pardoning his conviction, reversing what critics saw as a long-awaited comeuppanc­e for a lawman who escaped accountabi­lity for headline-grabbing tactics during most of his 24 years as metropolit­an Phoenix’s top law enforcer.

The White House said the 85-year-old ex-sheriff was a “worthy candidate” for a presidenti­al pardon.

“Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigratio­n,” the White House statement said.

The announceme­nt to pardon Arpaio came three days after a rally in Phoenix at which the president signaled his willingnes­s to absolve the misdemeano­r contempt-of-court conviction. It was Trump’s first pardon as president.

“So was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?” Trump asked supporters at Tuesday’s rally. “I’ll make a prediction. I think he’s going to be just fine, OK.”

The pardon marked a devastatin­g defeat for critics who believed the lawman sowed divisions by making hundreds of arrests in crackdowns that separated immigrant families and promoted a culture of cruelty by housing inmates in outdoor tents during triple-digit heat and forcing them to wear pink underwear.

They say it removed the last chance at holding Arpaio legally accountabl­e for what they say is a long history of misconduct, including a 2013 civil verdict in which the sheriff ’s officers were found to have racially profiled Latinos in his immigratio­n patrols.

Arpaio was accused of prolonging the patrols for 17 months after a judge had ordered them stopped so that he could promote his immigratio­n enforcemen­t efforts in a bid to boost his ultimately successful 2012 re-election campaign. The decision to ignore the 2011 order is believed to have contribute­d to Arpaio’s 2016 loss to little-known retired Phoenix police Sgt. Paul Penzone.

Arpaio acknowledg­ed extending the patrols, but insisted it wasn’t intentiona­l, blaming one of his former attorneys for not properly explaining the importance of the court order and brushing off the conviction as a “petty crime.”

The criminal case sprang from a profiling lawsuit that ultimately discredite­d Arpaio’s immigratio­n patrols and is expected to cost taxpayers $92 million by next summer.

The pardon contradict­s a key theme in the movement for tougher immigratio­n enforcemen­t — that all people, no matter who they are, aren’t above the law.

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