9 June 13th-June 19th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | jail system. He also claimed he didn’t get involved in the case until Arpaio “sent me to the courtroom the day the judge had issued his order and decision” in 2013. “In fact,” Sheridan added, “the judge has said in open court that that was the day MCSO began to comply with his order.” But the implication that Snow approved of Sheridan’s conduct in the case couldn’t be further from the truth. In the run-up to a 2012 trial in the suit, Snow issued a December 2011 preliminary injunction prohibiting the sheriff’s office from enforcing civil immigration law. But for 17 months following his order, Snow later learned, Arpaio’s office continued to stop Latinos on the basis of race and turn over to federal authorities anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Arpaio even bragged about it, promising in numerous public statements that his office would continue its practices despite Snow’s order. Sheridan was Arpaio’s second in command by then, though he later claimed in a hearing before Snow that he did not know about the 2011 preliminary injunc- tion until nearly three years later. Snow found those assertions erroneous, lambasting both Sheridan and Arpaio in a 2016 ruling for making “multiple inten- tional misstatements of fact while under oath” and engaging in “multiple acts of misconduct, dishonesty and bad faith.” In that ruling, Snow found Sheridan guilty of two counts of civil contempt. Snow later ordered an independent internal affairs investigation into what the judge called Sheridan’s “knowing misstate- ments” regarding the 2011 preliminary injunction. That probe ended with Sheridan’s name being placed on the county attorney’s Brady List, which is named after a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled that the government must disclose any potentially exculpatory material to a defendant. This includes any information that undercuts the credibility of a government witness, such as a police officer caught lying. ‘Not credible’ In a lengthy email to Phoenix New Times on May 29, Sheridan denied he’d ever distorted the truth. He pointed to a 2015 internal investigation by private investi- gator Don Vogel that Sheridan contended cleared him of wrongdoing. “None of the allegations were sustained,” Sheridan wrote, adding that the judge “was not happy with the results and ordered a second internal investigation.” Vogel’s report did not conclude that Sheridan had been untruthful, but it didn’t exonerate him either. Per the report, Sheridan “failed to have the appropriate oversight and control of information affecting units under his command.” Vogel also found that Sheridan received an email about the 2011 preliminary injunction the day it was issued — which Sheridan said he never opened — and that other top brass recalled discussing the order with him. Sheridan’s best explanation to Vogel in 2015: “I’m not a lawyer. I’m a cop. I didn’t know what a preliminary injunction was.” But the second investigation, conducted in 2016, found what Snow called “over- whelming evidence” to contradict Sheridan’s claim of ignorance. Sheridan was copied on emails from the agency’s attorney about the injunction and attended meetings in which it was discussed, including a meeting of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. “It is not credible,” Snow wrote, “that Chief Deputy Sheridan, as Arpaio’s imme- diate subordinate in charge of all of the MCSO’s operations, would have been wholly ignorant of a matter of such importance to Arpaio.” Snow also found that Sheridan disobeyed a court order that the sheriff’s office quietly gather traffic stop videos recorded by deputies, hitting Sheridan with a second finding of civil contempt. In August 2016, Snow found probable cause that Sheridan withheld evidence from the court and sought to conceal other evidence from the judge’s monitor, referring the allegations to the U.S. Justice Department, which dropped the case because the statute of limitations had expired. Snow also found Arpaio guilty of three counts of civil contempt in 2016, referring the case to the Justice Department, which prosecuted and convicted Arpaio for crim- inal contempt of court. President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio in 2017. The Brady List Whether or not Sheridan can convince anyone his hands were clean in the Melendres case, there’s no disputing that he’s the only candidate for sheriff in 2024 with the dubious distinction of being on the county attorney’s Brady List. Many in law enforcement consider a Brady List placement to be a stain on a cop’s record. In 2020, the last time Sheridan ran for county sheriff, he also felt that way. During a debate that year between Sheridan and Sheriff Paul Penzone, the incumbent suggested that Sheridan should be on the Brady List because he had “lied in court.” Sheridan, who had beaten Arpaio in that year’s Republican primary, took umbrage. “If I was untruthful, I would be on the Brady List,” Sheridan retorted, “which I am not.” That was true at the time. But two years later, in 2022, the county attorney’s office added Sheridan’s name to the list, citing the independent investigation Snow ordered in 2016. That investigation recommended dismissal as punishment. If Sheridan had still been with the agency — he left in December 2016 — he could have been fired. In his email response to New Times, Sheridan claimed his placement on the list was “weaponized for political purposes.” Because he was retired and a civilian at the time, he wrote, adding him to the list was inappropriate. He also said he was not notified when that 2016 inves- tigation was completed, nor was he given the chance to take a polygraph test or otherwise clear his name. “Considering the seriousness of the allegations, this was a direct violation of my constitutional rights of due process and the Arizona Peace Officers Bill of Rights,” he wrote. “I was NEVER untruthful.” Sheridan now seeks to convince voters he’s right for the job. That didn’t work in 2020, when Penzone handily defeated him in the general election. Penzone resigned in January. Should Sheridan prevail against Mike Crawford and Frank Milstead in the Republican primary on July 30, he’ll face one of two Democratic candidates: incum- bent Sheriff Russ Skinner, a former Republican turned Democrat appointed by the Board of Supervisors to serve the remainder of Penzone’s term, or former Phoenix police officer Tyler Kamp. Whether voters believe Sheridan was always truthful remains to be seen. But Snow didn’t. In July 2016, according to a report from Courthouse News Service, Snow shared his view in open court. Arpaio and Sheridan, he said, “lied to my face.” Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt of court before being pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2017. (Photo by Pablo Robles) Another Cop Kills Phoenix cop kills homicide suspect during 30-second shootout. BY TJ L’HEUREUX O n May 16, in a rapid chase that took less than 30 sec- onds, a Phoenix police officer shot and killed a fleeing homicide suspect who cops say shot first. Limited footage of the shooting — which includes no audio — was released May 30 by the Phoenix Police Department. It’s the eighth fatal shooting by Phoenix police this year. The agency released the footage as part of its “critical incident briefing,” which is made public after any police shooting or in-custody death. The brief- ings are narrated by officers and include edited compilations of body camera footage, dispatch audio and other infor- mation regarding an incident. The briefing for the May 16 shooting was shorter and provided less informa- tion than usual: 29 seconds of body camera footage, almost all of it without any audio; a slowed-down clip of the same body-cam video; pictures of the guns allegedly used by the man shot; and images of bullet holes in a police car. The man killed was Devin Montgomery, 23, whom police suspected of shooting and killing Brandon Russell, 29, earlier in the day. Officers responded to a report of gunfire around 2:15 p.m. near 33rd and Northern avenues, according to a media advisory. They found Russell with at least one gunshot wound. He died later at a hospital. Detectives identified Montgomery as a suspect in the shooting — the briefing did not say how — and began to search for him. Montgomery was tracked to an apartment complex near 25th Avenue and Cactus Road, where police said they tried to arrest him. According to police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Bower, there were “officers nearby responding to the area” of 25th and Cactus. But it’s unclear how many officers were at the scene when Montgomery was shot and killed. Bower wouldn’t tell New Times since “those are details that are under investigation” by the department. The shooting starts According to the briefing, Montgomery was walking toward his vehicle in the parking lot of the complex when he took out two pistols and fired on an officer, who was in an Fudging the Facts from p 7 >> p 10
