Tucson City Judge Wendy A. Million has acquitted former state Representative Daniel Patterson of all the domestic-violence charges against him. Million found Patterson not guilty of thee domestic-violence complaints arising from a argument with his ex-girlfriend.
The complaints led to the ethics investigation by the Arizona Legislature from which he was forced to resign. The controversial former lawmaker was acquitted of a domestic-violence complaint by his ex-wife earlier this month.
Patterson has resigned from office after the House Ethics Committee recommended expulsion and before a move to vote him out. Fellow legislators complained that he had intimidated them, and bragged about smoking marijuana.
At the time, House Minority Leader Chad Campbell said that Patterson’s behavior “highlighted in the investigative report is both reprehensible and intolerable. If he does not resign now, we need to vote to remove him immediately.”
The House’s investigative report indicated that the potential that Patterson could “injure others, particularly staff, puts the House and the State in the crosshairs for civil liability for subsequent injury.” The investigators recommended that Patterson be expelled from the Arizona House of Representatives.
Patterson said the Legislature should have held off the ethics investigation until after the charges made their way through the legal system. “There was a witch-hunt and fishing expedition in the House,” said Patterson regarding the ethics investigation.