Arizona

Conflict waiver OK’d city lawyer’s work for others while drawing severance pay, his counsel says

An ethics complaint by a city councilman against a former city attorney for Glendale, Ariz., is without merit, because it fails to take into account critical facts, a lawyer for Craig Tindall says in a written response. The complaint contends that Tindall, who now works as general counsel for the…

Apr 1, 2014 4:25 PM CDT

Lawyer for inmate marries him, helps with gang activity, gets 3 years in prison

A longtime Arizona criminal defense attorney who represented and married an inmate and helped him continue with his gang activities while he was in prison has now herself been sentenced to three years. Carmen Lynn Fischer Garcia was originally charged with 47 counts including money laundering concerning her involvement in…

Mar 26, 2014 4:05 PM CDT

Pit bull that mauled child is allowed to live, minus his fangs

A Phoenix judge has ruled that a pit bull that mauled a 4-year-old boy may live, provided that the dog is defanged, neutered, microchipped and housed at a rehabilitation center or shelter. The dog known as Mickey has galvanized supporters and detractors, report the Associated Press, the Arizona Republic and…

Mar 26, 2014 2:04 PM CDT

Good dog: Lawyer’s bull terrier gets scam email seeking to cash $198K check, but doesn’t bite

A scammer seeking to trick an Arizona attorney into cashing a fake $198,000 check was foiled when the pitch wound up in a law firm email account for the lawyer’s dog. As a joke, Scottsdale attorney Mark Goldman has an email account for his bull terrier, Walter, who has an…

Mar 20, 2014 10:45 PM CDT

9th Circuit says habeas case will continue despite petitioner’s death

The apparent suicide of a habeas corpus petitioner four days after an en banc federal appeals court ruling revived part of his claim for relief won’t put a halt to the case. In a brief Tuesday ruling (PDF), the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion…

Mar 12, 2014 5:15 PM CDT

Judge reverses divorce lawyer’s murder conviction in slaying of family member, says evidence lacking

A California divorce lawyer convicted last year of shooting to death his stepdaughter’s husband during a visit to Arizona in 2010 is getting a new trial. In a ruling released Thursday, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge found that Robert Fischer, 54, was convicted despite a lack of evidence connecting…

Mar 6, 2014 10:10 PM CST

Retired Arizona judges are entitled to promised pension increases, state supreme court says

Citing a state constitutional guarantee, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that lawmakers can’t trim pension increases for retired judges. The court said the pension increases must be reinstated because of a constitutional provision providing that public pension benefits can’t be diminished or impaired, Capitol Media Services and the Arizona…

Feb 21, 2014 4:06 PM CST

Jodi Arias legal bills top $2M, will rise as resentencing looms in grisly boyfriend-murder case

Convicted of first-degree murder in a highly publicized Arizona trial that included as evidence some of her statements during a 48 Hours interview and grisly photos of her boyfriend taken with her own camera, Jodi Arias still hasn’t been sentenced. A jury deadlocked during the penalty phase about whether she…

Jan 28, 2014 7:44 PM CST

Inmates punished with bread-and-water diet for desecrating US flags in cells

Inmates in one Arizona county’s jails have been placed on a bread-and-water diet for desecrating the U.S. flags that hang in their cells, authorities said. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said 38 inmates at six county jails are currently on such a diet for destroying government property, Reuters reports. “It’s…

Jan 28, 2014 12:00 PM CST

Ex-client can sue out-of-state law firm, top Ariz. court rules

Agreeing with an earlier decision by a state appeals court, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that an out-of-state attorney and his firm could be sued by Arizona residents to whom they provided a tax-shelter opinion letter for a $50,000 fee. In a two-page opinion (PDF), the supreme court essentially…

Jan 24, 2014 8:50 PM CST

County settles suit over prosecution of police officer whose dog died in patrol vehicle

Arrested by a well-known Arizona sheriff, charged with animal abuse and acquitted in a bench trial after leaving his canine partner unattended in his patrol vehicle for several hours in 2008, a Chandler police officer has now settled his malicious prosecution case against Maricopa County. Without admitting liability, the county…

Jan 15, 2014 5:10 PM CST

Divorce lawyer convicted in slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband

A California divorce lawyer has been convicted in Arizona of second-degree murder in the slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband three years ago. Attorney Robert Douglas Fischer was accused of shooting to death Norman “Lee” Radder in his Queen Creek, Ariz., home, then staging the scene as a suicide and calling…

Jan 2, 2014 7:15 PM CST

$129M law school at ASU’s ‘wildly successful’ Phoenix campus to include biggest US nonprofit firm

Corrected: Plans for a new $129 million law school complex to be constructed by Arizona State University on a city block in downtown Phoenix include not only the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, which presently operates in Tempe, but a public law library, a civic center and what is…

Dec 5, 2013 6:30 PM CST

Severed finger left at scene of alleged copper caper leads to suspect’s arrest

An Arizona man has been charged with misdemeanor theft based on evidence left at the alleged crime scene: a severed finger. Joshua Allen Goverman, 29, of Glendale was arrested after police retrieved the finger near a spool of copper cable that had apparently been pulled off a truck, report the…

Oct 31, 2013 1:40 PM CDT

$7.3M fee request in racial-profiling suit is ‘outrageous,’ Maricopa County Sheriff’s office says

The Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Office is fighting an adverse decision in a racial-profiling suit, as well as the fees sought by the winning plaintiffs’ lawyers The office is appealing the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow, which found that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office violated the constitutional rights…

Oct 25, 2013 2:47 PM CDT