6 July 3rd-July 10th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Undebatable Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has ducked two debates. BY STEPHEN LEMONS T here have been two televised debates in the GOP primary for Maricopa County Attorney this year. Rachel Mitchell, the frontrunner and incumbent, hasn’t appeared at either of them. And in Mitchell’s absence, fellow county prose- cutor candidate Gina Godbehere has gone on the attack. Unopposed and speaking to only a moderator at a June 19 Arizona PBS debate, Godbehere laid out all the ways she said Mitchell is failing in her position. She lambasted Mitchell as soft on crime. She criticized Mitchell’s “epidemic of leni- ency” and overreliance on plea agreements and deferred sentencing programs. If there were rebuttals to be made in Mitchell’s defense, no one was there to make them. The result has been a debate on tape delay. On TV, Godbehere lays into an oppo- nent who has declined to appear in her own defense. Then, at Mitchell’s biweekly press conferences at the county attorney’s office, the debate comes to Mitchell as reporters ask question after question about Godbehere’s broadsides. Why hasn’t she debated Godbehere? “Scheduling conflicts,” Mitchell said at her June 20 presser. Is she ducking her opponent? No, she’s appeared at events that Godbehere attended, and “there will be more.” Will Mitchell commit to a televised debate with Godbehere? “If the schedule allows, but reach out to my campaign,” Mitchell said. “I want to keep this about (the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office).” At the June 19 debate, Godbehere did keep it about the county attorney’s office. Speaking to reporters a day later, Mitchell responded. Here are the highlights of the debate that didn’t happen. The background Godbehere has an extensive background as a prosecutor in both the county attor- ney’s office and as the city attorney for Goodyear, but she’s never been an elected county attorney. Reminded of that fact at her June 20 press conference, Mitchell was not amused. “I know, she’s tried four times,” Mitchell said. “Next.” Godbehere ran in the 2022 Republican primary for county attorney, which Mitchell won. Godbehere also twice applied to be appointed to fill the position after it was vacated by previous occupants — when Bill Montgomery was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2019 and when Allister Adel, who was appointed to replace Montgomery and later became the first woman elected to that office, resigned in 2022. When Adel resigned, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors tapped Mitchell as interim county attorney. Mitchell went on to best Godbehere in a special Republican primary later that year and then defeated Democrat Julie Gunnigle in the general election. The drumbeat of Godbehere’s campaign this time around has been that Mitchell is not tough enough on criminals. Mitchell has “liberal” policies toward perpetrators, her opponent has suggested, adding in the June 19 debate that “we no longer hold people accountable like we used to.” A day later, Mitchell dismissed that idea out of hand. “This office is not soft on crime,” Mitchell said. “But my opponent certainly wants to be county attorney really, really bad again. That’s all I’m going to say on that.” But at the debate, Godbehere brought more than just vague critiques. She came with specifics. Too timid to prosecute? During the June 19 nondebate debate, Godbehere rattled off several cases in which she said Mitchell was too timid. One appeared in Godbehere’s former jurisdiction. In February 2023, Pedro Quintana- Lujan plowed his truck into a group of cyclists in Goodyear, killing two and injuring 19. Mitchell declined to prosecute, saying Quintana-Lujan had not been speeding, and though he had a small amount of THC in his system, the prosecu- tors could not prove impairment. The evidence was “not sufficient to obtain a felony conviction.” At the debate, Godbehere told moder- ator Ted Simons, “These victims, they deserve justice.” She said the cyclists were going “two by two by two in a bicyclist lane, and this truck plowed over all of ’em.” The driver “didn’t brake,” claiming that there were issues with his steering, “but there was no confirmation of that in any of the analysis done on the vehicle.” The Goodyear Police Department agrees with Godbehere. After Mitchell dropped the case in November, the depart- ment issued a press release expressing disappointment with Mitchell’s decision and stating that “we believe the evidence, facts and circumstances meet the statutory elements for multiple felony and misde- meanor offenses.” During her appearance on PBS, Godbehere also slammed Mitchell’s much- criticized plea deal with former state prisons boss Charles Ryan earlier this year. Ryan conducted a tequila-fueled confron- tation with Tempe police in 2022, barri- cading himself in his house and Republican county attorney candidate Gina Godbehere blasted Mitchell’s office for an “epidemic of leniency.” (Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr) | NEWS | Shot While Surrendering Lawsuit claims Mesa police killed man attempting to give himself up. BY TJ L’HEUREUX I n the minutes before his death at the hands of Mesa police officers on July 6, 2023, Shawn Gagne wanted the small army of cops outside his apartment to go away. Outside, SWAT officers aimed sniper rifles toward the apartment’s windows at Gagne, who was holding a rifle. Suddenly, while Gagne was still on the phone with a police negotiator, Mesa officer Shawn Freeman “ignored the status of the negotiations” and shot through a window at Gagne, striking him in the face. Gagne then set down his weapon, raised his hands and walked slowly toward the door, where a negoti- ator told him emergency medical workers awaited to treat him. When he approached the door, though, Mesa police and SWAT officers opened fire en masse, killing the 28-year-old Gagne as he tried to surrender. That’s the depiction of events as alleged by Gagne’s parents, Christopher and Suzette Gagne, in a lawsuit filed in federal court on June 4. The suit, which named the city of Mesa and 35 police department employees as defendants, alleged that Mesa and the police involved violated Gagne’s civil rights and were negligent in hiring, training and supervising officers, among other violations. “MPD’s use of force against Shawn constituted an unreasonable seizure of his person and was willful, malicious, intentional, reckless, and with deliberate indifference to Shawn’s constitutional rights,” the lawsuit read. Mesa police spokesperson Lisa Berry declined to comment on the lawsuit. The Gagnes’ attorney, Zachary Mushkatel, did not respond to requests for comment from Phoenix New Times. ‘Startled and confused’ When police arrived at Gagne’s apartment, the lawsuit said, Gagne was passed out drunk. According to the suit, Gagne was scheduled to enter an alcohol treatment facility the next day. But in the hours before he was killed by police, he had consumed a half gallon of vodka. At approximately 8:35 >> p 9 >> p 10
