IN YOUR FACE FURIOUS PUBLIC BACKLASH FORCES COUNTY ATTORNEY ANDREW THOMAS TO DROP CASE AGAINST NEW

[rodeodance]

Source: new times



IN YOUR FACE! FURIOUS PUBLIC BACKLASH FORCES COUNTY ATTORNEY ANDREW THOMAS TO DROP CASE AGAINST NEW TIMES.
Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 04:42:17 PM

........

In a stunning capitulation to an overwhelming public backlash, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced in a press conference this afternoon charges against New Times founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin are being dismissed and that Dennis Wilenchik will no longer work for the CA's office as a special prosecutor. Thomas admitted that the grand jury subpoena in the case, as discussed in this week's cover story by Lacey and Larkin Grand Jury Targets New Times and Its Readers, was too broad.

"We are not going to proceed with this investigation," stated Thomas. "The charges are going to be dismissed. And the matter is going to end."

Thomas ate crow before a crowd of fired-up journalists, claiming the subpoena in the case offended him as an American and a writer. (Apparently, Thomas has written a couple of right-wing tomes in the past.)

Read more: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2007/10/in_your_face_furious_public_ba.php

[havocmom]

1. LOL Ya don't wanna be anywhere near Joe Arpaio anytime soon.

Da man doesn't like having to play nice

It is heartening that the public let loose a can of whoop-ass on this one. It's a damned good sign!

Jack booted thugs CAN be dealt with.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Wouldn't it be entertaining...

If Arpaio ended up in prison, with some of the same folks he's been treating like animals all these years?

Well, I can dream, can't I? :evilgrin:

[Occulus]

6. I DEEPLY wish to see that happen.

Arpaio is one of the worst people in this country. He deserves the treatment he's inflicting, and he deserves to suffer it alongside the people he has inflicted it upon.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Arpaio in a pink jumpsuit

Now, I'd pay to see that.

[rodeodance]

16. He is a bush-type cowboy on the loose in AZ

[tesla78]

2. Poor Arpaio

It looks like he can't handle the heat(pun intended).

[seriousstan]

4. No blogs in LBN. your link should have been...

Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-10-18/news/breathtaking-abuse-of-the-constitution/

[havocmom]

5. Thanks for that link too

Most interesting to see this play out.

[Sam Ervin jret]

7. Karma is a powerful thing.

[NBachers]

8. Oops- I clicked the link!

Now they want all my information too!

I'm proud to stand with the New Times.

[Xipe Totec]

9. This should not end the investigation

This should only be the begining of the investigation.

What other secret subpoenas are out there that we don't know about?

Are secret subpoenas legal?

Should they be legal?

Is this the first time these secret subpoenas have been issued?

Is this the only DA's office that has issued them?

[struggle4progress]

11. Amid uproar, county attorney drops charges against 'New Times' (Az Republic)

Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 20, 2007 12:00 AM

... Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas dismissed all charges against the free weekly newspaper less than 24 hours after two New Times owners were arrested for publishing details of a grand-jury subpoena that demanded the Internet records of any person who had visited the newspaper's Web site since 2004.

Thomas' announcement came just hours after the State Bar Association confirmed that it had received multiple complaints and had launched an internal investigation into Thomas and special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik for their actions in the New Times case and an unrelated one ...

But Wilenchik and Thomas are now the subjects of legal and ethical complaints with the State Bar of Arizona ...

The Bar has also launched its own internal investigation into a campaign that Thomas and Wilenchik launched against Maricopa Superior Court judges, which led to an unprecedented request that all 93 judges in Maricopa County be replaced by judges from other counties ...

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1020newtimes1020.html

Informative and detailed

[struggle4progress]

12. No charges for media execs who revealed subpoena (AP in Houston Chron)

Oct. 19, 2007, 9:18PM
Associated Press

... Andrew Thomas ... said he still thinks the Phoenix New Times "arguably" broke the law when it published details from the Aug. 24 subpoena, which stems from the investigation into the paper's 2004 article that included the home address of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

State law prohibits online publication of law enforcement members' home addresses "if the disclosure poses an imminent and serious threat" to the safety of officers or their families.

But the subpoena went far beyond the 2004 article, seeking documents and other material related to preparation and publication of numerous stories on Arpaio. It also sought Internet addresses of all people who visited the New Times Web site and any Internet addresses those people may have visited before reading the stories.

The paper executives, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, wrote they regarded the article published Thursday as an act of civil disobedience ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5230162.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Can someone give us a little background?

[pacalo]

15. Sounds interesting & significant, but not very clear, is it?

[struggle4progress]

14. An overreaching Arizona prosecutor jails a pair of newsmen (Slate)

By Jack Shafer
Posted Friday, Oct. 19, 2007, at 5:53 PM ET

... What interests the grand jury in New Times readers? Here's the short form: Over the past 14 years, New Times has investigated Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in colonoscopic detail. The landing page for New Times' collected works on Sheriff Joe (as he's known) accuses him of "serious abuses of power." ...

... New Times is hardly the only Arpaio critic. See this Amnesty International condemnation of the treatment of inmates in Maricopa County jails.

The subpoena that Larkin and Lacey are waving like a Fourth of July flag grows out of a trumped-up criminal investigation of New Times for publishing Sheriff Joe's home address three years ago on its Web site as part of its investigation of his real estate deals (see "Sheriff Joe's Real Estate Game," by John Dougherty, July 1, 2004). Arpaio and the county prosecutor, whom New Times admires in the same manner it does Arpaio, say its publication violates state law, hence the grand jury investigation. Like a colossal fishing trawler, the subpoena also demands all notes, records, documents, e-mails, files, etc. related to several New Times articles about Arpaio.

How difficult is it to find Arpaio's home address? It took me five minutes of Web plinking, and I didn't need New Times to find it ...

http://www.slate.com/id/2176304/