When in April 2015, the Chief of the Criminal Division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Don Conrad, gave final approval for the prosecution of attorneys from the Snell and Wilmer law firm, the matter of businessman Will Graven should have immediately been presented to a grand jury. Because Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich had benefitted greatly from the support of attorneys with the firm during his campaign, any other action by that office would have been considered unprofessional at best.
At the very least, the matter should have been assigned to an impartial special prosecutor, according to experts.
The fact that the AG’s Office had failed to shield one top level member of the AG’s staff who had other serious conflicts–of-interest elevates the issues from appearing highly questionable to actionable, according to experts.
Yet, despite the fact that Conrad and Andy Rublacava, Chief of Special Investigations approved proceeding with charging Snell and Wilmer attorneys and taking the case to the State Grand Jury by executing a Fraud and Special Prosecutions (FSP) case open document on May 5, 2016, Brnovich’s office did not immediately hand the matter over to another jurisdiction. In fact, rather than taking the appropriate action, the office went to the extreme and tried to shut down the case altogether. Those extreme measures included firing several staff members with knowledge of the case.
Related article: Former Special Agent Tells Arizona Supreme Court Of Brnovich Corruption
Finally after it became clear that the Attorney General’s office was under scrutiny, Brnovich was finally forced to turn the matter over to Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles. At least the AG’s Office appeared to turn the matter over. It was only an appearance however. The fact of the matter is the Attorney General’s office withheld key information from Pinal County prosecutors.
Currently Brnovich’s actions are under investigation, according to sources.
It remains to be seen if the Pinal County Attorney will do the right thing in the matter and take the case to a grand jury or follow Brnovich’s poor example. They are approaching a fork in the road and time will tell if they serve the interest of justice or political interests.
Still in question is whether Attorney General Mark Brnovich will own up to his failures. In light of the fact that the Fraud and Special Prosecutions (FSP) case open document was approved on May 5, Brnovich is the only one holding the smoking gun.
As the ADI reported earlier, on May 13, 2016, former Assistant Chief of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Dan Woods filed an affidavit with the Arizona Supreme Court that provided a precise description of a years’ long investigation which resulted in numerous indictments and plea agreements, but was stopped short by Brnovich.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Due Process and Equal Protection under the 5th and 14th Amendments to our Constitution require a fair decision making process by a fair decision maker. Conflicts of interest involving the decision maker equate to Due Process and Equal Protection violations.