Miscellaneous

The Latest

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Maricopa County has long been the central place for all things court administration. Innovations, studies, you name it, they've got it.

It's also the source for all things Sheriff Arpaio.

The most recent story does not concern limiting inmates' meals or making them wear pink underwear (both of which the sheriff has done), but rather a request for e-mails written by judges and court administrators in the Maricopa County Superior Court.

Internal court correspondence falls through the legal cracks. It's not public record when it doesn't pertain to individual cases, yet it doesn't quite fall under most sunshine rules relating to policy-making or administration. We think this is so due to the simple fact that many (most?) legislators don't realize that court administration exists.

Here, Arpaio wanted 16,000 e-mails from the court. The backstory is this: previously, citing budget concerns, the sheriff's office limited the number of inmates they would bring to hearings. A judge vowed to hold two deputies in contempt if they did not perform their duties. As a counter-measure, cat (or is he the mouse? It's hard to keep track) Arpaio limited the time defense counsel could visit clients in jail.

A three-judge panel rejected the request for e-mails as overbroad. Arpaio will appeal to the state's highest court. Stay tuned.

See Arpaio Loses Appeal on Request for Court E-mails, Michael Kiefer and Yvonne Wingett, Arizona Republic (June 6, 2009). See also You've Got Mail, and the Sheriff Wants to See It, court-o-rama (February 3, 2009).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on June 06, 2009 (boomark / email).