On Friday, federal judge Murray Snow asked the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona to bring criminal contempt of court charges against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Snow also asked that the criminal charges be brought against Maricopa Captain Steve Bailey, Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s former defense attorney Michele Iafrate.
According to the New York Times, “[Bailey and Iafrate are] accused of withholding information from a court-appointed monitor about the existence of 1,459 IDs seized in law enforcement operations.” But Snow stressed that any guilt on their part must be viewed as guilt on Arpaio’s part, saying, “The court has reminded Sheriff Arpaio that he is the party to the lawsuit, not his subordinates, and thus the failure of his subordinates to carry out this court’s orders would amount to his own failure to do so.”
The Atlantic reports that Snow also alleged that Arpaio and Sheridan had ignored the authority of the court in the past, saying, “[they] have a history of obfuscation and subversion of this Court’s orders that is as old as this case and did not stop after they themselves became the subjects of civil contempt.” Breitbart News reported that Snow held Arpaio in civil contempt in May 2016.
Arpaio has yet to comment on Snow’s pursuit of criminal charges. Following the civil contempt charges in May, CNN quoted Arpaio, saying, “I never hide from media, but my policy has been I don’t talk about ongoing litigation.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com
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