Criminal charges filed against Arizona chief superior court judge
December 10, 2009
Phoenix, AZ: Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas filed criminal charges against Gary Donahoe, the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Court of the Maricopa County Superior Court.[1], on Wednesday, December 9, 2009. In the criminal complaint, Donahoe is accused of three felony charges of hindering a prosecution, obstructing a criminal investigation and bribery. A week earlier, County Attorney Thomas also filed a suit in federal court that alleges racketeering and conspiracy among Maricopa County officials, private attorneys and judges; this federal lawsuit names Donahoe as a defendant.[2]
The December 9 criminal charges relate to how a $340 million joint construction project of the Maricopa County Superior Court and Maricopa County government was handled. Two lawyers, Tom Irvine and Ed Novak, were hired to represent Maricopa County in a lawsuit about the court tower's construction. According to the criminal complaint, Donahoe had an attorney-client relationship with Irvine and Novak and, the complaint says, he failed to properly disclose that relationship.[2]
The criminal complaint came in the midst of a long-standing controversy in Maricopa County. County Attorney Thomas and county sheriff Joe Arpaio stand on one side of this dispute. The other side includes Maricopa County Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox, and others. Thomas announced criminal indictments against Stapley and Wilcox in early December 2009, and appointed outside prosecutors to investigate allegations against Commissioner Stapley. The day that Thomas announced that he had filed a criminal complaint against Donahoe, Donahoe was scheduled to preside over a hearing on whether Thomas had the unilateral authority to choose those outside investigators, or whether the county commissioners had the right to become involved in their selection. That hearing was canceled when the criminal charges against Donahoe were announced.[2]
Barbara Rodriguez Mundell is the presiding judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and also a defendant in the federal lawsuit filed by Thomas and Arpaio. She referred the Donahoe state criminal complaint to the Arizona Supreme Court, where Rebecca White Berch referred the case to William J. O'Neil of the Pinal County Superior Court.[2]
James Belanger, a Phoenix defense attorney, said that the filing by Thomas of criminal charges against Donahoe was unprecedented and "...in my opinion, an abuse of process."[2]
Footnotes
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Arizona • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Arizona
State courts:
Arizona Supreme Court • Arizona Court of Appeals • Arizona Superior Court • Arizona Justice Courts • Arizona Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Arizona • Arizona judicial elections • Judicial selection in Arizona
