Seattle Criminal Attorney | Maricopa County Update
As a criminal attorney, it’s hard not to develop a chip on your shoulder for law enforcement, judges, and prosecutors. After all, it seems like they are all out to get you. The cops are bending the truth this way and that to make sure the evidence they’ve collected stays in or the stop they conducted was legal. Prosecutors simply take advantage of the fact that they have you by the balls so often. And judges simply don’t follow the law the way they should (i.e. they sometimes put their own personal and political beliefs above defendants who they think in the end won’t suffer much – as opposed to fairly weighing the facts against the law and making a decision) all the time. And then there is the scene down in Maricopa County (aka Phoenix) which makes me, a Seattle criminal attorney, sick to my stomach.
I won’t rehash the whole thing except to summarize very quickly. Court was in session. Defendant and attorney at table. Deputy sheriff rifles through defense attorney’s file and takes letter. Deputy sheriff gets caught. His big punishment is to apologize. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, allegedly the big swinging dick down there, says no. His deputies call in sick. They protest. No one caves, but everyone lets Sheriff Joe parade about.
I don’t personally know any criminal defense attorneys in Phoenix (I am, after all, a Seattle DUI defense attorney). I’m positive there are some good ones down there, some that have the heart to stand up to Sheriff Joe. But it hasn’t been going so well lately. There was supposed to be a demonstration outside the courthouse today in opposition to Sheriff Joe’s action (he’s also the leading candidate for governor, by the way – who knows what happens if he wins that election), but a reading of an article in the Arizona Republic (here) shows the rally was actually for the District Attorney who indicted the presiding judge on trumped up conspiracy charges (allegedly, though not confirmed, dreamed up by Sheriff Joe). Looks like about 250 people showed up to show their lack of support for the DA.
In the end, someone is going to have to stand up knowing they face the possibility of battling against the full force of the government (whether the government has the power, authority, or proof, or not). That’s a hard stance to take. But if someone doesn’t, the future of Maricopa County’s citizens is at stake (it’s easy to sit back and watch until the people start coming after you…). And from the perspective of this Seattle criminal attorney, the future’s already dim.
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