Maricopa County Sheriff Office’s (MCSO) noncompliance with a federal judge’s orders in the lawsuit Ortega Melendres v. Arpaio. Over four days, evidence was presented by the ACLU who argued that MCSO officials should be held in contempt of court.
Individuals facing contempt charges include Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arapio, Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, retired Executive Chief Brian Sands, Deputy Chief John MacIntyre, and Lieutenant Joseph Sousa.
As of now, three areas of contempt are at issue: (1) MCSO’s failure to abide by the terms of the preliminary injunction, which prohibited deputies from detaining people solely on the suspicion that they are undocumented; (2) the agency’s failure to disclose audio and video recordings made and maintained by MCSO deputies, as well as other materials maintained by or relating to the MCSO Human Smuggling Unit; and (3) the department’s failure to cooperate with judicial directives made on May 14, 2014 with respect to the collection of recordings that were in the possession of MCSO deputies.
Sheriff Arpaio and Chief Deputy Sheridan have already admitted to disobeying court orders in these three areas.
Consequences for these violations will be decided following the hearing and could include fines, restitution for individuals detained in violation of the preliminary injunction, and increased authority for the court-appointed monitor. U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow could refer the charges to the U.S. Attorney’s Office if he determines, after hearing the evidence, that criminal contempt charges may be appropriate.
“The sheriff admitted that his former attorney had hired the private investigator to look into a tipster’s allegation that Snow’s wife had told someone at a restaurant that Snow wanted to prevent Arpaio from being reelected,” according to The Atlantic.
Arpaio told the judge, “We weren’t investigating you. We were investigating some comments that came to our attention.”
In 2013, Snow ordered Arpaio to stop anti-immigration patrols, finding that they constituted illegal racial profiling. Arpaio continued the practice for 18 months. According to The Atlantic, the question is whether that was intentional or not; if the judge decides it’s the former, he could find Arpaio in contempt. The sheriff’s said that he didn’t realize that a federal judge had issued the order, reported The Atlantic. “I have a deep respect for the courts,” The Atlantic quoted Arpaio. “It really hurts me after 55 years to be in this position. I want to apologize to the judge. I should have known more about these court orders that slipped through the cracks.”