Power -v- Power in Maricopa Courts...

The saga continues, and trumps the abuse of prisoners in the news. As I noted in a recent post about the MCSO deputies assaulting prisoners, the sickness there spreads from the top down. Here, Arpaio and Thomas just used the power of criminal investigation as the weapon with which they assaulted their victims. 

The indignation and compensation sought is frankly kind of ridiculous over these folks' defamation: poor people get assaulted with the law all the time - even those who aren't competent enough to be responsible for breaking it. Judges aren't entirely innocent when it comes to criminalizing the mentally ill to get them off the street, either. For every mentally ill person in Arizona in a psychiatric hospital these days, about ten sit in jail or prison.

Think about that. That's criminal. Here's the full report: another one to read and weep.

So, keep this in perspective, folks - since these particular targets of Sheriff Joe's are powerful people themselves, they have high-powered representation (actually, a decent guy who has represented prisoners families, too) and will be collecting a whole lot more from the county (us) for their slightly-damaged reputations than any prisoners will for being subjected to unrestrained violence at the hands of deputies who broke both their spirits and bones. Arpaio himself probably won't be shelling out a dime in the end, of course - and I'll bet you anything that we'll be paying for his retirement for years to come.

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2 More Judges Sue Arpaio, Alleging Defamation and Abuse of Process
Courthouse News
By JAMIE ROSS

PHOENIX (CN) - Two more Superior Court judges have sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio for defamation, and a deputy county manager and a county administrator added complaints of their own, all alleging that Arpaio targeted them for baseless criminal investigations to retaliate for the judges' court rulings and the county employees work on budget cuts. Four Superior Court judges or retired judges have sued Arpaio this week; the new plaintiffs claim that Arpaio's actions "constitute the rankest misuse of power against those innocent and powerless citizens that our system of government is supposed to protect."...

(finish the article here)