Short Attention Span Musing - justice system edition

And, surprisingly enough, Cheeto and his many indictments aren't part of it.

...First up: the big news of the week.

From AZ Family, written by Peter Valencia, dated 11/29 -

2 Cochise County supervisors indicted for 2022 election interference

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has announced that a grand jury has handed down an indictment against two Cochise County supervisors.

The indictment was filed Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court. According to the AG’s office, Peggy Judd and Terry “Tom” Crosby conspired to delay the canvass of votes cast in the county during the November 2022 General Election. Both now face felony offenses of conspiracy and interference with an election officer.

A press release from Attorney General Kris Mayes is here.  The indictment itself (part of the press release) is here.  From Maricopa County Superior Court records: the case number is CR2023-008495.

Arraignment is scheduled for 12/21/2023

Guessing that Kelli Ward and the other 2020 fake electors were hoping that election-denying would get lost in the hubbub.

My guess: Not so much.

Other news:

...The U.S. House expelled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) by an overwhelming margin this week.  However, Arizona's representatives in Congress weren't exactly unanimous in the desire to expel the oft-indicted member.

From the vote:

All Democratic members from AZ voted to expel Santos, but four GOP members from AZ voted to protect criminality -

Crane (AZ2), Biggs (AZ5), Gosar (AZ9), and Lesko (AZ8).

Not surprising: Biggs and Gosar are relentlessly partisan bigots and Crane is their ideological saddle partner.

Surprising:  Lesko.  I figured that if there was a fourth AZGOPer to vote to protect Santos, it would be David Schweikert.  He's got ethical issues of his own, thought he would vote to help one of his own.

I was wrong.

...Arizona Supreme Court Justice Bill Montgomery (R-Dougie) recused himself from a case involving Planned Parenthood, a group that he's demonized in the past.

From AZ Mirror, written by Gloria Rebecca Gomez, dated 11/30 -

Anti-abortion AZ Supreme Court Justice recuses self from abortion case

An Arizona Supreme Court judge who once accused Planned Parenthood of committing genocide has agreed to recuse himself from a case involving the organization that will determine the future legality of abortion in the state. 

In October, Planned Parenthood Arizona called for Justice Bill Montgomery to step away from the case after the resurfacing of a 2017 Facebook post in which he said its national counterpart was responsible for the “greatest generational genocide known to man.” The organization, which runs four of the state’s nine abortion clinics and is the main litigant in the case, argued that Montgomery’s vehement opposition to it threatens to jeopardize its right to a fair and impartial trial. 

There are many amicus briefs filed for this one.

It's scheduled to be heard by the AZ supes on 12/12.

..And in sad news,  Arizona icon Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, has passed away at age 93

From AZ Mirror, written by Ashley Murray, dated 12/1 -

Sandra Day O’Connor, who made history as the first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93

The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93.

Sandra Day O’Connor, a groundbreaking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix, of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement from the court.

President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor in 1981, and she was confirmed by the full Senate, 99-0, in September of that year

I didn't always agree with her, but always thought she was a decent human being.

My deepest condolences go out to her family and friends.

Bill Montgomery - the people that know him best rejected retaining on the AZ Supreme Court

Former Maricopa County Attorney who got nominated and appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court to be a reliable vote for Doug Ducey will be retained as a Supe.

That's the statewide result, but in Maricopa County, he didn't do so well.

Statewide -

Maricopa County, from the website of the Maricopa County Recorder -

Learned two things from this:

1. Ouch!  The slap that Montgomery received from voters has gotta sting.  Not only did he come in ~15% less than the other AZ Supes on the ballot, a majority of voters in Maricopa County want him to go away.

2. Maricopa County, long a Republican bastion, is bluer than most people thought.  In addition to rejecting Montgomery, the voters here tended to support Democratic statewide candidates in a greater percentage than they garnered in the rest of the state.

Some say "pro-life". Some say "anti-choice". I say "hypocrite".

This may surprise regular readers (OK, not really :) ), but I know a lot of "pro-choice" folks; I don't know any who are "pro-abortion".

By the same token, I know many "anti-choice" people, but very few who truly qualify as "pro-life".

The loud people who oppose even the idea that women should have control of their bodies and access to complete healthcare services, including abortion services if they so choose, like to proclaim themselves to be "pro-life",  as they see themselves as "protecting" fetuses.

The people who disagree with them often refer to those people as "anti-choice" because most of them seem to stop caring about those fetuses once they become living children.

The anti-choicers say that "life begins at conception" but act is if life becomes irrelevant at birth.

This past Saturday (8/22/2015), there were protests and counter-protests at Planned Parenthood facilities across the country, including here in Arizona.  Their putative motivation for the protests this weekend was some selectively-edited and now-debunked videos that allegedly showed PP execs talking about selling body parts from aborted fetuses for profit.

On Saturday, the anti-choicers' show pony/headliner was Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, himself definitive evidence that someone can be "anti-choice" without being truly "pro-life".

A few examples:

- His handling of the Sean Pearce case.  In late 2013, Pearce, a senior deputy of one close political ally (Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio) and the son of another close ally (disgraced former state senate president Russell Pearce), was driving his Chevrolet Tahoe at more than twice the posted speed (specifically, 81 mph in 40 mph limit zone), when he hit another vehicle.

The driver of the other vehicle was killed in the accident.

After a "thorough" investigation, Montgomery decided that no charges were warranted.

Even though everyone that I know (including people who work inside the justice system) who saw the video of the incident said "prison time", or something close.  Meaning that any "normal" person (i.e. - not politically well-connected) would have been looking at some serious prison time.

But not Sean Pearce, the son of one of Montgomery's friends and a senior underling of another one.

Pearce was cited for excessive speed, and because the prosecution failed to inform the judge in the matter that someone died as a result of Pearce's actions, he was allowed to take a defensive driving course.

Meaning that he didn't even get points on his auto insurance record for killing someone.

He didn't quite get off scot-free for the death, but it was damn close.


- Then there's the case of Joshua Pearce, brother of Sean and another son of Russell.

In 2010, an infant daughter of Joshua Pearce suffered a fractured skull.  When the incident was investigated, police found that the stories of Joshua Pearce and wife did not jibe with the stories told by their other children.  In addition, a doctor determined that the injury could not have occurred the way that Pearce said it happened.

Still, the investigation was closed after Mesa PD and the office of Maricopa County Attorney determined that no charges were merited.


- Turning to the now-infamous case of Debra Milke.

In 1990 (well before Montgomery became county attorney) Milke was convicted in the murder of her son.  The police and the prosecution alleged that she conspired with two men to kill her son and had confessed to doing so.

The confession was unrecorded and was witnessed by only one detective.

It later came out that the detective had a history of lying and falsifying evidence to make cases, that the prosecution was aware of that record, and that the prosecution failed to disclose that record to the defense, as they were required to do.

In 2013, the conviction was overturned by an appeals court because of the misconduct by the prosecution.  The case was returned to the MCAO for further disposition.

Montgomery's office started the process to re-prosecute her.  When another judge ruled that the misconduct in the first prosecution was so egregious that jeopardy had attached and that she could not be retried.

In an attempt to return Milke to prison and death row, Montgomery appealed that ruling.  And lost.


- And then, of course, there is the Jodi Arias case.

After a long and incredibly expensive trial, Arias was convicted of the 2008 murder of her boyfriend.

Montgomery sought to have her sentenced to death.

The first sentencing jury deadlocked between imposing the death penalty and a sentence of life in prison, mandating that she receive a sentence of life in prison (death sentences must be unanimous).

Montgomery could have accepted that and moved on to other cases, but he wanted her to die.

So he appealed the sentence verdict, looking for a second sentencing trial.

He got that second sentencing trial, trying to have Arias killed.

And after the second sentencing trial, after running the costs for her prosecution and defense into the millions (both paid for by the taxpayers)...the second jury also deadlocked.

The prosecution gets only two bites at the sentencing apple, so Arias was sentenced to natural life in prison (aka - life without the possibility of parole).


So, to sum up -

Montgomery has declared himself a "protector of life", yet lets one killer off, seemingly to help a couple of political allies.

Montgomery has declared himself a "protector of life", but tried to have someone who was wrongfully convicted put back in prison and on death row after her conviction was vacated because the prosecution in her case cheated.  Horrendously.

Montgomery has declared himself a "protector of life", but he has forced the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars in a futile quest to have someone that he doesn't like killed.

And when it comes to protecting children, their health and lives seem to take a back seat to his personal political calculations.


In other words, Bill Montgomery's words may say "pro-life".

However, his acts (both of commission and omission) tell a veerrrry different story.