A Sierra Vista-based family law attorney who must serve at least 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to two domestic violence felonies has submitted a dozen letters of support to the court, including two written by former Cochise County judges.
Paul Randall Bays signed a plea deal in February admitting to aggravated assault and unlawful imprisonment related to a March 2019 incident in Cochise County during which his ex-wife Gina Bays suffered a broken wrist. He is slated to be sentenced June 8 to a stipulated probation term of three years.
But the plea deal also require Bays, 61, to serve between 30 and 90 consecutive days in jail, with the length of jail sentence to be announced by Judge James Marner on June 8. Marner of the Pima County Superior Court is hearing the Bays case at the request of Cochise County court officials.
One of the letters sent to Marner is from Karl Elledge, who retired as a Cochise County Superior Court judge in February 2019. Bays was one of four candidates considered by Gov. Doug Ducey to replace Elledge, who now serves as a mediator in civil and family law cases.
Elledge was retained by Bays to represent him in a custody dispute that arose after his arrest. The letter written by Elledge focuses on Bays’ commitment to his children and asks Marner to consider the impact of a lengthy period of confinement on the family.
“Randy has suffered much as a result of the March 2019 incident,” Elledge wrote. “His reputation in the community may be irreparably damaged, he is struggling economically to keep his practice afloat, and he is constantly vilified in the local and social media.”
The letter from Elledge also notes that while “domestic violence is unacceptable in our society,” Bays has taken responsibility for his actions by entering a plea agreement and expressing remorse for his actions.
Another letter sent to Marner was written by Wallace Hoggatt, who retired from the Cochise County Superior Court at the end of 2018. The content of Hoggatt’s letter is limited to his observations and impressions of Bays as an attorney over the course of more than two decades.
“Mr. Bays undoubtedly would like to repair his reputation and rebuild his business to the extent that he can,” Hoggatt wrote. “There are strong incentives for him to obey any orders the court would make.”
Several other top attorneys in Cochise County submitted letters to Marner, including Nina Caples, Perry Hicks, and Chris Russell.
In addition to his private practice work, Bays also served as the city attorney for Tombstone for nearly 20 years. He resigned after entering his guilty pleas, even though Tombstone Mayor Dusty Escapule had said Bays could keep the job as long as he was licensed to practice law.
One of the letters to Marner was submitted on City of Tombstone letterhead and signed by Escapule in his capacity as mayor. In the letter, Escapule wrote “Randy appears to me to be a very nurturing father with an extremely close bond to his children.”
Escapule also discussed the allegation of Bays’ unlawful behavior.
“If I believed that Randy was a threat to anybody or otherwise incapable of controlling his temper or emotions in public or private, I would have seen it at some time and counseled with him without hesitation because I believe our relationship is that close,” the mayor wrote.
Public records show Bays and his ex-wife made various written allegations against each other in petitions for protective orders dating back to 2012. Gina Bays obtained an order of protection from a Pima County judge in 2012 after claiming to be the victim of physical and sexual assault by her then-husband.
A February 2015 petition by Randy Bays described five incidents that led another Pima County judge to issue an order of protection in his favor against Gina. Some of the incidents purportedly occurred in front of couple’s young son, and at least one incident prompted a police report for criminal damage.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office also investigated a report of domestic violence by Bays in which Gina claimed she’d been thrown to the floor during an argument while the couple’s two children were home. No charges were filed in that case.
Other records show the couple often traveled together with their children after divorcing in October 2016. During a family vacation to California in January 2019, Gina Bays was arrested after Randy Bays claimed she had hit him on the head with a plate while at their hotel.
Gina Bays was not prosecuted for the California incident.
Elizabeth Ortiz of the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council is prosecuting the case against Bays due to a conflict on the part of the County Attorney’s Office.