Gary Donahoe

Gary Donahoe is a former Presiding Judge of the Criminal Court of the Maricopa County Superior Court. He was appointed to serve as the court's Presiding Judge on January 19, 2009. He retired from the court on June 30, 2011.

2010 election

Donahoe was retained with 58.71 percent of the vote in 2010.

Main article: Arizona judicial elections, 2010

Read his Judicial Performance Report here.

Education

• J.D., with honors in 1979 from the University of Arizona
• Master’s degree in 1972 from the University of Arizona
• Bachelor’s degree in 1970 from the University of Arizona

Career

Donahoe became a judge in the Superior Court in 2000. From 2000-2003, he was assigned to the court's civil division. In 2003, he entered the court's criminal division. From June 2006-October 2007, Donahoe served a stint in the court's Family Court department, after which he re-entered the court's Criminal Division.

From 1989-2000, he was a court commissioner for the Maricopa County Superior Court. From 1979-1989, he was an attorney with Robbins & Green, practicing in the area of civil litigation. From 1973-1976, Donahoe was an urban and regional planner working for the Northern Arizona Council of Governments in Flagstaff.

Criminal charges

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas filed criminal charges in state court against Donahoe on Wednesday, December 9, 2009. In the criminal complaint filed by Thomas, Donahoe is accused of three felony charges relating to hindering a prosecution, obstructing a criminal investigation and bribery. A week earlier, 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.

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.

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 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 whent the criminal charges against Donahoe were announced.

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.

External links

• Maricopa County Superior Court
• List of Maricopa County Superior Court judges

Footnotes

Arizona courts

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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