News updates are sent daily. You can unsubscribe at any time.
New Times files lawsuit against Arpaio, Thomas
Digg|
Save|
License|
Print|
E-mail|
A Phoenix newspaper on Tuesday accused Maricopa County’s sheriff and top prosecutor of breaking several state and federal laws during a three-year battle with the paper.
New Times challenges law used in investigation
Key documents missing in New Times inquiry
New Times battle with sheriff continues
New Times executives seek $15M for arrests
The accusations came as part of a lawsuit filed by the Phoenix New Times and its executives in the county’s Superior Court, accusing Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas and others of a long list of abuses, including conspiracy to suppress free speech, false arrests and racketeering.
It stems from the October 2007 arrests of two of the newspaper’s executives, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, on suspicion of breaking grand jury secrecy laws.
The pair were arrested by sheriff’s deputies after publishing an article that revealed they were the target of a grand jury investigation, sparked by a long-running battle between the newspaper and Arpaio over whether it was legal to publish the sheriff’s home address online.
The 34-page lawsuit tries to show that Arpaio, Thomas and lawyer Dennis Wilenchik, the man hired as a special prosecutor to investigate the New Times for a separate but related case, conspired to go after the newspaper because they saw it as a political threat.
“This is not the first time these (officials) have abused their authority to obtain financial, political and other benefits and retaliate against their political opponents,” the lawsuit stated. “In fact, they have a custom, pattern and practice of doing so.”
Much of the suit echoes a demand made by the newspaper earlier this year, which said the county should pay the executives $15 million for the arrests. Tuesday’s lawsuit did not name a price the paper is looking for now.
In an e-mail late Tuesday, Thomas did not respond to the suit’s accusations. Instead, he attacked Lacey, the paper’s executive editor, for using a racial slur in a speech to a group of journalists recently.
“Rather than spending his time filing a frivolous lawsuit, Michael Lacey should properly apologize for his recent use of the ‘N-word’ at a public dinner,” Thomas wrote. “This racial slur tells us everything we need to know about the tabloid he runs.”
Lacey has apologized multiple times for the remark.
Arpaio’s rebuttal of the lawsuit also slipped into a personal attack of Lacey and Larkin, whom he called “crybabies.”
“They have to come back and cry, just because we were doing our job and they can’t handle it,” Arpaio said.
Wilenchik, the other man named in the suit, declined to comment.
Please add your comments, but follow these guidelines to keep this a safe, credible place for discussing the news: