Free Republic

Supreme Court Asked to Intervene in Bar Matters Legal Experts Cite Extensive Ethical Misconduct by Bar Officials FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 27, 2008 For more information contact: Barnett Lotstein, Special Assistant County Attorney (602) 506-1527 (office) or 390-7884 (cell)The County Attorney’s Office today filed a brief with the Arizona Supreme Court asking the court to terminate or, at minimum, refer to an independent special master all State Bar inquiries regarding the County Attorney and other prosecutors in related matters due to serious ethical misconduct by Bar officials and attorneys. The petition for special action was filed after evidence has mounted...

Since Arizona’s local law enforcement began enforcing illegal immigration laws and an employer sanctions law went into effect, illegal immigrants have been fleeing the state in large numbers. The effects have been far-ranging. Commuters are reporting fewer vehicles on the freeways, shortening their rush-hour commutes. What had become a serious transportation problem in Arizona is losing its urgency. English Learner Language (ELL) students started dropping out of school. This helped end a confrontation between the state legislature and a liberal federal judge who had ordered the state to spend more money on ELL classes. Fewer illegal immigrants are using hospital...

The federal government may not be doing much when it comes to illegal immigration, but Arizona’s Maricopa County Attorney and Sheriff are. The top two criminal law enforcement officials in Arizona have teamed up to arrest and prosecute illegal immigrants crossing the border into Arizona using a new state human smuggling law, and the courts agree. Arizona is the first state in the nation to pass a law against human smuggling. Following the legal advice of Maricopa County’s tough on crime prosecutor Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began arresting illegal immigrants under the new law and referring them...

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT INDICTMENTS UPHELDTHOMAS’ INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES VALID In a nine-page legal opinion which analyzed Arizona and federal case law and statutes, Superior Court Judge Thomas O’Toole ruled that illegal immigrants who conspire with human smugglers (coyotes) to be transported into Arizona can be prosecuted for the criminal offense of conspiracy, a class 4 felony. In addition, Judge O’Toole dismissed defense attorneys’ claims that Arizona’s anti-smuggling statute could not be enforced because the federal government had preempted the field of immigration. The Courts’ extensive analysis specifically denied claims that the court did not have jurisdiction to consider the issues presented;...