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How do you spell perjury - "I don't recall" - But cops don't consider lying under oath to be perjury, to them it's testilying.
Arpaio says he doesn't recall many details of probes by JJ Hensley - Oct. 18, 2011 12:38 PM The Arizona Republic Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio does not recall many of the details related to the investigations that have threatened the careers of former County Attorney Andrew Thomas and one of his top prosecutors. The investigations were born of a task force Apraio and Thomas formed in late 2007 and targeted a host of elected and appointed officials in Maricopa County, some of whom Arpaio said he considered friends. But despite the high-profile nature of the investigations, which spawned a battle between county agencies and years of legal actions, Arpaio said he was largely unaware of the allegations against county officials and he struggled to recall the fine points of key meetings with prosecutors about the cases during more than two hours of testimony Tuesday at the Arizona Supreme Court. "I don't recall" was Arpaio's most common answer when attorneys pressed him for details. Toward the end of his testimony, Arpaio elaborated on his ignorance about the cases. "I'm not trying to be evasive," Arpaio said, noting that some of the conversation took place two to three years ago. "I don't have a computerized mind to remember everything we talk about in my 14 hour days...I'm trying to be honest but I don't remember." The sheriff's testimony came at the beginning of the sixth week of ethics hearings that could end in disbarment or sanctions for Thomas, and former Deputy County Attorneys Lisa Aubuchon and Rachel Alexander. The former prosecutors are accused of violating 33 ethical rules that are in part related to their work with an anti-corruption unit in the Sheriff's Office. Some of those investigative targets, including county Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox and former Superior Court Judges Barbara Mundell and Gary Donahoe, have testified about the personal toll the investigations took on their lives. Arpaio initially said he delegated some of the investigative work related to Stapley and Wilcox- two longtime members of the Board of Supervisors- to former Chief Deputy David Hendershott because he considered the two politicians friends. The five-term sheriff later said all of the investigative work done in the anti-corruption unit he and Thomas established was handled by detectives, Hendershott and prosecutors. "I don't recall the nuts and bolts," Arpaio said. Arpaio was able to recall two key pieces of the investigations, one of which contradicted testimony Hendershott gave last week while the other sheds some light on the decision-making process when prosecutors and investigators decided to criminally charge Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe. Hendershott testified that it was Arpaio who ordered the arrest of Stapley in 2009 for his alleged misuse of campaign funds. Arpaio on Tuesday put that decision back on Hendershott. "I don't order arrests," Arpaio said. "The decision was made by the Chief Deputy and I did not oppose it." But Arpaio also said it was his recommendation that led prosecutors to file a complaint against Donahoe in 2008 alleging bribery. The recommendation came during a meeting with Thomas, Aubuchon and Hendershott where the four were discussing how best to take the rare step of bringing charges against a sitting judge. "There's many ways to affect an arrest that was just a suggestion I had," Arpaio said. Donahoe later filed a $4.75 million claim against the county allegaing that Thomas and Hendershott filed a criminal complaint against him to create a conflict of interest that would force him off cases involving other legal battles between Thomas, Arpaio and other county officials. Donahoe's complaint alleged their investigation into the county's court-tower project "was simply the Trojan Horse for Arpaio and Thomas's assault on their political enemies. The only 'crime' committed by Judge Donahoe was to issue a ruling adverse to Arpaio and Thomas." Among other allegations, Donahoe claims Arpaio and Thomas ignored a grand-jury decision to kill the case against him, continued to publicly portray the judge as the subject of a criminal investigation and chose a man who Donahoe says threatened to kill him as the process server designated to deliver the complaint to him. Those arrests and prosecutions are at the heart of the allegations Thomas, Aubuchon and Alexander are now facing, but Arpaio's lack of recall might not have hurt the prosecutors. Don Wilson, an attorney representing Thomas in the proceedings, asked Arpaio if he could recall any conversation among the prosecutors about the need to file charges against Donahoe to prevent the judge from holding a hearing the following day which could have been averse to Thomas. "I don't recall," Arpaio said. The three-panel body that serves as judge and jury in the disciplinary hearings have also heard testimony from members of the anti-corruption task force that Arpaio and Thomas formed in early 2007, with the testimony largely focusing on what role prosecutors played in driving the discredited investigations and whether prosecutors knew the cases were weak as they pursued them. Thomas and Arpaio were political allies with similar views on issues including immigration enforcement, but the fallout from the investigations helped undo Thomas' political career as he was defeated last year in his run for attorney general. Arpaio shut down the anti-corruption squad after Hendershott was placed on administrative leave during an internal investigation that led to Hendershott's dismissal from the agency. Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk handled some of the anti-corruption squad's cases after Thomas determined he was conflicted from prosecuting county officials. She is scheduled to testify following Arpaio, according to a spokeswoman for the Arizona Supreme Court. |