» Entries tagged with "sheriff joe"

Today’s Lesson From Jail

Walking into Maricopa County’s lovely Fourth Avenue Jail earlier today, it occurred to me that you don’t really see that many fanny packs outside of county jail waiting areas anymore. Sweat pants, too. There was one lady with a wispy brown mustache sporting purple sweat pants and not one, but two fanny packs. One had a broken zipper and a jumbo pack of Zig-Zag rolling papers poking out of a hole. The other was bulging but closed, filled no doubt with all kinds of fascinating objects. She was quite upset she couldn’t bring her fanny packs and their contents into her video visit. That lady would ordinarily be the pièce de résistance of a wait to do a custody visit, but this time I was fortunate … Read entire article »

Filed under: Uncategorized

The Simpsons Already Did It

I’m about ready to boycott Facebook. I suppose I could marvel at the diversity of my friends’ political views, but it’s mostly just draining. Half of them are stockpiling weapons. The other half are champing at the bit for some sort of action, any action, from legislators. Why they feel the need to share their views in impersonal snippets bound to piss off half of their “friends” is beyond me. Personally, I’ve avoided posting anything about last week’s tragedy because it has seemed far too soon for me to know what lessons I should be taking away from it, if there are any at all. It’s also far easier to make sense of other people’s reactions than it is to make sense of what happened. After I … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants

A Waste

From this article at the Arizona Republic: I do wish I could die doing something meaningful. You know, this seems such a waste. Those were a man’s last words. He died soon after without uttering any “official” last words. He liked porterhouse steak, french fries, okra, cauliflower, salad, fruit and ice cream. He liked those things so much they were the last things he ate before we murdered him. The good folks at the prison complex where we killed him, our crackerjack “execution team,” didn’t have an easy job. The doomed man was nice enough, joking with them as they prepared to end his life, but they had a real tough time setting the two intravenous lines intended to deliver fatal toxins. They had to cut into the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Arizona Cases, Death Penalty

Think About The Children Animals (Update – Now With Video!)

It’s a classic love story, really. Man meets woman. Man marries woman. Woman meets other man. Men agree to watch woman have sex with dog they found on craigslist together. Then, things get weird. Dog owner gets cold feet. Sheriff Joe valiantly intervenes, of course. World is safe for the time being, as husband, wife, and lover must surrender their pets while on pretrial services with mandatory ankle bracelets and a curfew. Aside from the obvious, a couple of small things really stand out. First, why didn’t they just go get a dog at the pound? Seriously. There are all kinds of freaks on craigslist. By going to the pound, they’d know exactly what they’re getting. Second, the curfew doesn’t … Read entire article »

Filed under: News, Sex Crimes

A Letter to Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu

Dear Sheriff: I am sure you have heard by now about Sheriff Joe’s recent high-publicity raid in Laveen. In a valiant effort to stop the unlawful raising of chickens for cockfighting, surely the single most serious problem affecting the good citizens of Maricopa County, your neighboring sheriff rolled out his prized tank and showed the community that such animal cruelty will not be tolerated by terrorizing a neighborhood and euthanizing 115 birds. Sheriff Joe’s impressive display of force, which included numerous SWAT officers in full gear, armored vehicles, and a bomb robot, is just the kind of thing your office should do to remind the good people of Pinal County that your office loves animals too. Hopefully I do not have to remind you about the recent frog-fucker debacle in … Read entire article »

Filed under: Uncategorized

Stay Classy, Joe

The title comes from Adrian, not me, but it fits. Just the kind of thing you’d expect to see on an official law enforcement vehicle for the sheriff’s office of the fourth largest county in the United States, right? Plastic pink flamingos and junk cars on cinder blocks in the front yard of every county facility are coming soon, I hear. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Police

Priorities

When Nick Martin at Heat City put up a link to this on Twitter, I started thinking. Nobody’s going to feel too sorry for lawyers making $250 an hour. If they work 40 hours a week at that rate for a year, they’ll be earning roughly ten times the median household income in the United States. It’s nothing like $450 an hour, where they’d be pushing a million in fees each year working less than I do, but it isn’t bad. In all fairness, I imagine it’s larger firms doing all the work, so nobody in particular gets all that money. Take out a chunk for a top-floor office with lots of marble, throw in a few expensive associates who don’t contribute anything valuable to the representation, and maybe … Read entire article »

Filed under: lawyers

Arpaio Set to Music

For your amusement, here’s a little song someone wrote about Sheriff Joe: (H/T Kris and Bob) … Read entire article »

Filed under: Uncategorized

What's the Solution?

When Fourthamendment.com calls Maricopa County “a banana republic where the Sheriff can intimidate any official he wants,” it’s a good sign we’ve reached a low point. I don’t disagree with the sentiment, though the sheriff’s willingness to intimidate isn’t limited to officials. It’s depressing. Nobody here is safe, and this should be getting a lot more press. The mainstream, national media seems to be ignoring Maricopa County altogether. I’m still seeing more traffic going to posts about David DeCosta and smoking bans than goes to posts about what could be the breakdown of constitutional government as we know it. It seems no one is listening. Scott Greenfield even started losing interest, but Mark Bennett argued Maricopa matters. That prompted another post from Scott about what power, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Uncategorized

Donahoe Charged

Holy crap. I’ve written about Judge Donahoe of the Maricopa County Superior Court here, here, here, and here. The county attorney just charged him with three felony counts. I’ve uploaded the complaint, release questionnaire, and probable cause statement here. I have too much work on my desk to comment on it now, but “holy crap” pretty much sums it up. I think my most recent post has become even more relevant. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Uncategorized

Articles Comments

Web Design by Actualize Solutions