Thursday, November 5, 2009

Arpaio Deputies Caught in the Act

Last week I wrote a lengthy post on Sheriff Joe Arpaio and inferenced the notion that his office follows no rule of law. It is widely known out here in the southwestern desert that the Maricopa's Sherriff's Office do as they please.

Unbelievably, one of Sheriff Joe's Deputies were caught on tape. In this video, a defense attorney is speaking to the judge. Watch the Deputy in the back, walk towards the defendant, begin to peruse the attorney's files, call another Deputy over and then steal a few documents from her.

I'm sorry for dwelling on this guy, but you just can't make this stuff up.

UPDATE: CNN's Rick Sanchez reported and showed the video during CNN's Newsroom this afternoon, calling for the attention of the Justice Department.

4 comments:

Michael W. Huseman said...

You have got to be kidding me!! That video is hilarious. Those officers look like real Rhodes Scholars.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I'd be interested to know what happened on Nov. 3rd. If that would have been me, I would have objected and asked the court to hold her Baliff in contempt.

Every Baliff I've encountered has a Napoleon complex (both short and tall) in their Courtroom, but holy shit, I've never seen anything like that.

Michael W. Huseman said...

I had only watched about half of the video the first time. After watching it the second time, I don't know what is more outrageous, the brazen theft by the officers or the judge acting as an accessory.

The judge may not have noticed the actual theft as it occured, but she had to see that dumbass officer walk back into the courtroom after obviously just making a COPY of the document. The judge is trying her best to distract the defense lawyer and get her stop calling attention to the felonious conduct of the officers while on the record.

What I saw was a conspiracy to obstruct justice, interference with the judicial process, violation of the defendant's civil rights, and theft, among other things. All caught on camera.

Michael W. Huseman said...

Here is a good update on the thieving courtroom deputy. He was jailed by another judge (not the accomplice judge). The Sheriff's department then filed an ethics complaint against the judge and accused him of being biased against the sheriff's office. Last Wednesday, 20 court house officers called in sick in an attempt to sabotage the county's judicial system.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/deputy_who_took_pds_document_is_in_jail_but_is_he_in_a_cell/