A Murder Defendant Goes Free, an Ethics Complaint Is Filed, and County Atty Blames Deputy
An Arizona county attorney accused of misconduct that resulted in the release of a murder defendant is pointing the finger of blame at his onetime chief deputy.
Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting told the Arizona Republic that he believed investigators were allowed to contact a jailed defendant without notifying his lawyer. Both Whiting and the former chief deputy, Martin Brannan, are accused in the ethics complaint of directing investigators to confront the defendant, the story says.
“If the chief deputy says it’s OK, I guess it’s OK,” Whiting told the newspaper. “I didn’t go research it.”
The alleged misconduct spurred a superior court judge to drop murder charges against the suspect, with prejudice.
According to the ethics complaint, Whiting and Brannan directed investigators to pressure murder defendant Joseph Roberts to plead guilty, without informing the defense lawyer about the meeting. Roberts was told that unless he accepted a plea deal, he could face the death penalty or life in prison. Whiting has posted an audio file of the investigator’s meeting with Roberts.
“I want you to know, if we go through the preliminary hearing tomorrow, our deals are off the table,” the investigator says in the audio recording. “If you want to waive your attorney, waive a hearing, you need to get with your attorney today and let him know.”
Superior Court Judge Donna Grimsley dismissed the charges against Roberts in January, citing “the flagrant and manipulative subversion of [Roberts’] Sixth Amendment constitutional rights,” the Associated Press reported at the time.
Whiting issued a press release (PDF) in response, saying his office was “surprised and deeply concerned” by Grimsley’s ruling.
