Posted on 01/08/2008 4:21:10 AM PST by radar101
PHOENIX - No penalties, but some criticism from a judge over the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office's failure to let defense counsel know to how to access their jailed clients.
To save money, Sheriff Joe Arpaio in November cut off all jail visits after 2:30 p.m. But defense attorneys, probation officers and interpreters complained that it denied them access to defendants, who in turn had a constitutional right to legal counsel.
After three weeks of hearings, Superior Court Judge Anna Baca ordered the original hours be restored to the attorneys and staff making "privileged" visits.
The order did not include the public.
The latest complaint lodged against the Sheriff's Office came from an associate public defender who waited several minutes Dec. 14 to see his client at the Fourth Avenue Jail.
Defense attorney Dan Mestaz said he eventually left without seeing his client.
Meanwhile, at least one other defense attorney had gone around to a side door of the jail and was granted access.
The Sheriff's Office was in compliance with the order, but as a compromise measure, had locked the main doors to reduce staffing.
Attorneys were at first required to find their own way to the open door until deputies posted a small hand-lettered sign near the front door.
A more visible sign has since been added.
Mestaz asked that the Sheriff's Office be held in contempt of court. Baca heard arguments from both sides on Jan. 2, and on Monday denied Mestaz' request.
Baca did order Chief Deputy Gerard Sheridan to personally send notification to all of the county's public defender agencies to inform them how to gain access to their jailed clients.
Had to wait several minutes!! The horror
Wow! They were too strapped financially to put up a hand printed sign saying “go to the side door!”
Sheriff Joe should have called me, and I would have sent him a free piece of paper with those words pre-printed, saving the county all of 14 cents! But I guess it does add up.
Mark
Well, I see this phony scumbag is still garnering the publicity he craves so much. Trash like this gives conservatism a bad name.
Oh yeah, being thrifty with the people's money and treating prisoners like, well, criminals and prisoners, are such bad things. < /sarcasm >
Suit yourself,Dumb Blonde. He’s the biggest headline-grabbing phony since the Huckster or the Clintons. That is the ONLY reason he does anything, to appeal to the maniacal law-and-order types, who don’t think of anything else in life. All a gimmick for his personal political power. My hope is I live long enough to see him die first, same way I feel about Kennedy.
Can’t help but notice that you do not give any specifics in your tirade against the sheriff, only words of attack against him and anyone who thinks that what he does is effective.
I’ll post a few things later, takin’ a nap right now (retired, it’s my right). He’s the poster boy for a police state. A fascist is a fascist, regardless of party. Back later.
Here’s ONE thing I don’t like. This is an excerpt from a news story.
Sheriff orders fingerprinting when traffic citations issued
ASSOCIATED PRESS | February 3, 2005
By Beth Defalco
PHOENIX – Sheriff’s deputies in the Phoenix area on Thursday began asking drivers getting ticketed for certain traffic violations to provide their fingerprints, drawing criticism from civil rights activists.
You sound like someone to whom the most important things are I, ME, and MINE.
NEWS-FLASH: In a recent internet discussion, law enforcement officers comapared notes. The discussion was sparked by
http://piava.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/wisconsin-police-fingerprint-traffic-stops/
Finger printing drivers in traffic stops has been in use since 1990. The main reason: People who are not carrying a driver’s license (GUESS who that would be) are adept at finding out someone else’s name, birthdate and address,and telling the Officer issuing a citation that he is JOE. Let’s call someone JOE.
Joe is a normal citizen who works, has a home, and bills.
Joe opens his mail one day, and there is a letter from his Insurance company. It says, “Your policy has been cancelled due to your license being suspended”
Joe is now in for a bureaucratic nightmare. Before fingerprinting, he could not prove that he was NOT the one who got a ticket.
(Most States suspend a person’s license when that person has received a ticket and does not show up for court)
Joe will now have to prove:
A. HE did not get that ticket.
B. Take a copy of the Court Decision to DMV, pay $100.
C. Get insurance with the Court Record.
D. Make ANOTHER trip to DMV toprove that he now has car insurance.
THEN- he will get his license back.
And just HOW OFTEN does Shit like that happen? No-quite the contrary-all those who idolize this little hitler are self-absorbed. He’s the epitomy of the word ‘knuckle-dragger’ and does nothing but make true conservatives look like fools.He’s the flip side of the Teddy Kennedy coin. A dictator who gets his votes/support by emotion is just that, regardless of political stripe. You can give all your rights away, but I’m not ready to just yet.
In my experience in modern America, the applicable phrase is “Statistics don’t mean anything—until YOU are one”.
No kidding. Good ol’ boy on a power trip who’s milking the sentiment we’re too easy on criminals for all its worth.
We are too easy on some criminals. But Joe runs a jail, not a prison. He isn’t abusing violent convicted felons. He’s abusing misdemeanor convicted nobodies, and suspects awaiting trial who haven’t been convicted of anything.
Showboating sadism is all fine and good when it’s happening to someone else. But as easy as it is to be thrown in jail for having a brown lawn, or overdue parking tickets, or missing your insulin and being mistaken for drunk, or any of the other abuses of power we read about every day and then pretend never happen, I’d like to be able to talk to my lawyer when that happens to me.
Thank you.
I read somewhere on the web that this moron was chosen by Myth Romney to be his campaign manager in Arizona.
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