Friday, July 7, 2017

Sheriff Arpaio’s Defense Rests

Originally published by Thomas J. Crane.

The trial for the “toughest sheriff” has concluded. I previously wrote about that trial here. The “toughest sheriff” has chosen a strange defense. As his trial reached its conclusion, his attorney argued that the “toughest sheriff” did not have a good lawyer. The lawyer did not explain the judge’s ruling to him, for eighteen months. The “toughest sheriff” did not know he could no longer enforce a ban on unlawful immigration. The defense presented some deputies who testified no one told them they could not enforce the federal ban on unlawful immigration.

The lawyer argued that the judge’s order was ambiguous, hard to understand and it was politically motivated. Its a problematical defense. One of his former lawyers testified, but apparently said little more than that Judge Snow’s order had some ambiguity in it. I cannot imagine any lawyer would testify s/he did not explain to the client what the judge wanted them to do, especially in a high profile case like Sheriff Arpaio. Too, the sheriff was and still is an experienced political operative. He has successful run for office for some 30 years. One would assume he can read a judge’s order and understand it. If he does not understand it, he knows how to seek clarification.

This is a high risk defense. It stretches the limits of credibility. The “toughest sheriff” did not testify. Really, he is the best person to advance a defense based on what he understood or did not understand. I suppose he was not tough enough for court. See CNN news report here.

Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.



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