Prosecuting cops can cost taxpayers more than the average criminal defendant.

September 6, s004

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that if anyone in his administration committed a crime in connection with the public leak of the identity of an undercover CIA operative, that person will "no longer work in my administration."

Efrain Martinez sits in a cell at the Durango Jail dressed like a criminal in a black-and-white -striped jumpsuit even though he says he committed no crime.

Efrain Martinez sits in a cell at the Durango Jail dressed like a criminal in a black-and-white -striped jumpsuit even though he says he committed no crime. Thirty-one days have passed since the 32-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant arrived at the Maricopa County jail, accused of shooting a gun at former Mesa council candidate JT Ready.

Defense attorneys withdrew their requests Monday to disqualify the Maricopa County Attorney's Office from prosecuting 14 criminal cases but plan to make the requests again in the future.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has filed a criminal complaint alleging a Superior Court judge hindered prosecution of county Supervisor Don Stapley and investigations into funding of a $340 million court tower project.

The prosecutor who brought criminal charges against Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley should be personally liable if a judge finds she improperly allowed the release of a sealed court document, the county’s lawyers argue in a motion related to the case.

Complaining that Jodi Arias' sensational murder case has become a modern-day "witch trial," her lawyers tried to quit in the middle of the death-penalty phase Monday, then said they will call only one witness: Arias.

October 26, 2004

October 26, 2004

The future of public safety in the Valley will be molded — in large part — by whomever is elected the first new Maricopa County attorney in 16 years.

June 21, 2004

April 19, 2005

Business for Valley defense attorneys is booming. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has been cracking down on criminals since 2004, and public defenders have scrambled to keep up as prison populations have swelled.

People accused of violent crimes in Maricopa County will no longer have the opportunity to plead guilty to lesser charges, County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES - An ex-defense attorney for Phil Spector was declared in contempt of court Monday after she tearfully refused to testify that she saw a defense expert in the murder case pick up possible evidence.

Oct. 24, 2004

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial decided Wednesday to let stand an instruction that would allow jurors to potentially find Jackson guilty of a misdemeanor count of giving alcohol to a minor.

The candidates for Maricopa County attorney are using statistics as weapons of political destruction. An unprecedented rise in felony trials has flooded the courts during Andrew Thomas' four years as top prosecutor, all sides agree.

September 7, 2004

Congress clearly didn’t take much notice of an obscure provision the Bush administration slipped into the USA Patriot Act last year. But now it seems clear that the measure is being used to conduct a political purge of U.S. attorneys’ offices.

Charlie Sheen and his wife were reunited Monday after a judge modified a restraining order and allowed them them to work out their differences following a Christmas Day domestic violence dispute in which the actor allegedly pinned his spouse on a bed with a knife to her throat.

A federal judge on Friday rejected a request that he appoint an attorney to represent the unborn who would be affected by a challenge to the state's new ban on abortions after 20 weeks.