The Justice Department Is Supporting Joe Arpaio's Bid To Get His Conviction Dismissed

[DonViejo]

Source: BuzzFeed News




Joe Arpaio, who was found guilty of criminal contempt but was never sentenced, has argued that President Trump's pardon means his criminal case is moot.

Posted on September 11, 2017, at 3:27 p.m.

Zoe Tillman
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Washington, DC

Reporting From
Washington, DC

The Justice Department is supporting former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio's effort to get his criminal conviction dismissed now that he's been pardoned by President Trump.

In court papers filed on Monday, Justice Department lawyers wrote that they agreed with Arpaio that Trump's pardon made his criminal case moot. A judge found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt this summer, but he hadn't been sentenced by the time Trump issued the pardon in late August. That meant that no final judgment was entered in the case, DOJ said, and Arpaio would face no consequences from the guilty verdict.

Arpaio's case became moot "from the unpredictable grace of a presidential pardon," and not because of any action that Arpaio took to end it, the Justice Department lawyers wrote, quoting from an earlier case that also involved a presidential pardon. It was "just and appropriate" for the judge to vacate her orders and dismiss the case, they argued.

Arpaio's lawyers said in an earlier court filing that Arpaio did not ask Trump for a pardon. However, Trump was open about his desire to help Arpaio, an immigration hardliner who backed his presidential campaign.




Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/the-justice-department-is-supporting-joe-arpaios-bid-to-get?utm_term=.hiPqNNDQm#.jjln66lE2

[WoonTars]

1. Are you f**king kidding me?

Like the Justice Dept. has nothing more important to do than protect that convicted racist....

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I'm sure the federal prosecutors and the judge appreciate that effort.

[Ligyron]

3. Well, that certainly sends the right message to the right people.

[Freethinker65]

4. Wow. The Feds should have left this alone. Justice in this country is now a absolute sham.

How far and fast we as a country have fallen.

[Solly Mack]

5. Of course it is.

Scummy people doing scummy things to ruin the country.

[Angry Dragon]

6. that's right, tell 320 million Americans that it is okay to have comtempt for the courts

and Trump calls himself the Law and Order president
better to call himself a pig president

[procon]

7. Only in America can the rich buy justice, and whites think they're born with it. nt

[marybourg]

8. Why should the DOJ spend money on sentencing reports and a

judicial procedure when he's already been pardoned? This is just an administrative clean-up. C'mon folks! Stop letting yourselves be stirred up over sh*t. There's plenty of real problems.